HAMM CAN'T WIN FOR WINNING.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

ATHENS, Greece - Paul Hamm did nothing wrong.

Got that?

He did not pay off a judge, put grease on the Korean's parallel bars, play fast with the rules.

He competed, and brilliantly. And when the night was done, he was deemed the men's Olympic gymnastics' all-around champion.

For this, they give you a gold medal. It should come with acclaim and honor and respect.

Instead, Hamm is under a cloud. His grand moment being compromised by a simple mistake, and then unnecessarily complicated by adults unwilling to step forward and take responsibility.

Now they want him to figure it out? They don't want to account for their own action, and non-action. They want to sidestep rules, pass the buck, take the easy way.

Hamm can't win. No matter what he does or doesn't do now he cannot win.

And that's a shame. He deserves more than to be derided, for innuendo that he's some selfish, ugly American, for demands he give up his gold.

He's caught, and there's no way out.

After he won the all-around title Wednesday, gymnastics' grand prize, he was celebrated. For what, two days?

Then the Koreans lodged a protest that their bronze winner, Tae Young Yang, had been given an incorrect starting value to his parallel bars routine. The .10 difference would have elevated him past Hamm and to the gold.

This is after the medals had been handed out. Long after the event was over. If there's no statue of limitations on these things, there's a certain 1972 basketball game that should be brought up.

Now instead of simply telling the Koreans they were too late, the International Gymnastics Federation, for some reason known as FIG, reviewed the case. Looked at video, a FIG no-no. Decided the Koreans were correct, suspended three judges ... and then said they were done.

Korea, not all happy with this outcome, wants more. It wants justice. Justice still being somewhat vague, although it's safe to assume it entails a gold medal in some form for Yang.

Now at this point, someone needs to stand up for Paul Hamm. He shouldn't be left hanging, with USA Gymnastics backpedaling, the USOC playing politics, FIG washing its hands of it all, high-minded columnists telling him to hand the medal over.

Paul Hamm did nothing wrong.

And few seem to get it.

It's either issue Yang a second gold medal or Hamm should take the one they put around his neck and give it to Yang.

Neither should happen. No one can say how Yang would have performed in his final routine if he'd taken the lead. Maybe he tightens up. Maybe he goes conservative. Maybe Hamm digs a little deeper.

It can't be assumed and it can't be replayed. It's not some simple matter of justice.

``In the NBA if someone scores a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win a game by a point, and then that night on TV you can tell he wasn't behind the 3-point line, they don't give the point back,'' said USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi.

The game stands. Maybe the rules get changed the next time so the same thing doesn't happen (see: Raiders and tuck rule), but you don't go back in time and suddenly manufacture another outcome.

Yet the USOC is kowtowing to the Koreans. Playing it safe, trying to appear to do the right thing, while leaving Hamm out to dry.

Remember, almost the entire country of South Korea was in an uproar at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics when their speed skater was disqualified, allowing American Apolo Anton to get the gold.

So instead of standing by Hamm, the USOC is placating the Koreans. It met with them twice Monday. It's spokesman officially said they were willing to explore the possibility of joint gold medals.

All the while Bruno Grandi, FIG president, is saying the rules - convenient when you want them to be - prevent him from issuing a second gold.

See, nothing illegal happened. No French judge was intentionally fudging her scores. No funny stuff anywhere. Just a simple, certainly regrettable, mistake that should not be haunting Hamm.

The killer is, while saying he can't do anything, Grandi said Hamm should.

``For me, the best situation would be for Paul Hamm to take this medal and give,'' Grandi told the AP, pretending to remove a medal from around his neck and leaving the sentence unfinished.

Are you kidding me? The big boys can't figure it out, won't step forward and be decisive, and they want Hamm to solve their problem?

``It shouldn't be up to the kids to decide,'' said Miles Avery, Hamm's coach. ``It should be up to the adults.''

To add to this theater of the absurd came Monday's individual apparatus finals. The arena went bonkers when fans became unhappy with a low score given Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov.

Hamm was up next, but boos and jeers and chants held up his routine for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, two of the judges miraculously changed their scores, giving Nemov higher marks.

Is this a great sport or what? And these are amazing athletes doing incredible things. They deserve better, and so does Hamm.

``I truly believe in my heart I am the Olympic champion,'' Hamm said. ``But I will abide by whatever decision FIG makes.

``If they decide to award a second gold medal, that's fine by me. If they ask me to step aside, that'll be fine by me, too.''

See, despite his critics, he wants to do the right thing. He wants to abide by the rules.

Monday night he actually tied Igor Cassina for best score on the horizontal bar, but lost the gold on some technical tie-breaker system that's one step ahead of ridiculous.

Now particularly aware of this dual gold medal concept, Hamm could have complained he deserved to share Monday's gold.

``There are rules in the Olympics,'' Hamm said. ``I get the silver medal tonight, and people follow rules.''

Some do when it suits them. Give the medal back?

``That's Paul's decision,'' USA's Colarossi said.

And thanks for your support.

Hamm reached his dream, yet lives a nightmare.

It's wrong, and he's hasn't done anything of the sort.