U.S. women gymnasts pick up 3 more medals
Paul Hamm didn't place on pommel horse or floor exercise.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- While the U.S. women were picking up more hardware, Paul Hamm was defending the gold he's already got.
While the Greeks were turning the arena into their own impromptu house party, Svetlana Khorkina was leaving the bash without a word.
Helped by Annia Hatch's and Terin Humphrey's silver medals, and Courtney Kupets' bronze, the United States upped its gymnastics medal haul to seven Sunday night, the most it's won since 1984. The U.S. team won 16 medals at the boycotted Los Angeles Games.
"That makes us just so excited to start raking them in," Kupets said. "Hopefully, we'll keep that going."
The U.S. men and women won silvers in the team competitions. Paul Hamm became the first U.S. man to win the Olympic all-around, and Carly Patterson became the first woman since Mary Lou Retton in 1984 to win gymnastics' biggest prize.
On Sunday, Hatch won silver on vault, finishing second to Romania's Monica Rosu. Anna Pavlova of Russia was third. Humphrey won her silver on bars, followed by Kupets. France's Emilie Lepennec won the gold.
Scoring error
The International Gymnastics Federation acknowledged Saturday that a scoring error wrongly gave Hamm the gold in the all-around over Yang Tae-young of South Korea.
Though the federation, known as FIG, says it cannot change the results, the South Koreans plan to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in hopes of getting a duplicate gold medal.
"The people I'm a little bit upset with is the FIG because this matter should have never even come up," Hamm said after failing to medal in the pommel horse or floor.
"Reviewing videotape isn't even allowed in the rules. Rules can't be changed after the competition is over. Right now, I personally feel I shouldn't even be dealing with this."
No one knows how Khorkina feels because she didn't bother sticking around. The Russian's Olympic career ended with a thud when she fell off the uneven bars, and she quickly stalked out of the arena. Khorkina didn't even stick around to watch the final bars performance.
Greek triumph
Greece's Dimosthenis Tampakos capped off the night in spectacular fashion. Going first on still rings, he scored a 9.862, the highest of the night in any event.
That sent the hometown fans -- including local games chief Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki -- into a frenzy, and they went wild again each time a score was posted and Tampakos maintained his hold on first place.
It was Greece's first gold on rings since 1896. Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria won silver and Italy's Yuri Chechi took the bronze.
Kyle Shewfelt won Canada's first gold in gymnastics on floor, with Marian Dragulescu of Romania second and Jovtchev third.
Teng Haibin of China upset three-time world champion Marius Urzica on the pommel horse, with Urzica taking silver and Takehiro Kashima getting the bronze.
"What can I say?" an overwhelmed Tampakos said as music from the movie "Zorba the Greek" played in the background. "It was the best moment for my life."