Hamm doesn't want to share

ATHENS, Greece — Tainted gold? Paul Hamm certainly doesn't think so.

In fact, he's downright angry his Olympic all-around gymnastics title is being disputed at all.

"I shouldn't even be dealing with this," Hamm said Sunday after failing to win medals in event finals for pommel horse and floor exercise.

Hamm won the gold medal Wednesday after judges incorrectly scored Yang Tae-young's parallel bars routine, failing to give him enough points for the level of difficulty, known as the start value. The South Korean ended up with the bronze, and his country's Olympic committee is appealing the results.

While Hamm competed in the event finals, U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth and chief executive Jim Scherr met with members of the South Korean delegation to discuss the dispute.

"The Koreans requested a meeting and we listened to their point of view," USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said. "No decision was reached."

The International Gymnastics Federation suspended the two judges who determined the start values — Benjamin Bango of Spain and Oscar Buitrago Reyes of Colombia — along with the judge who oversaw the panel, George Beckstead of the United States. But the federation said the results will not be changed.

Hamm believes the problem started when FIG decided to review the videotapes of the event after the South Koreans complained.

Reviewing tapes to handle protests is not allowed in international gymnastics.

"The people I'm a little bit upset with is FIG because this matter should have never even come up," Hamm said. "The rules can't be changed after the competition is over."

A scoring change could have been made if the South Koreans had protested immediately. They insist they did, but FIG officials and American judge Henry Bjerke dispute that. Bjerke, who was on the parallel bars panel, said he never saw the South Koreans approach the judges' table.

"They waited until the medals had been given out — until after the fact," Bjerke told The Associated Press. "It was a very unfortunate mistake and it happened at the worst possible time."

Hamm finished sixth on the pommel horse and fifth on the floor Sunday. He refused to blame the stir caused by the South Koreans' protest, but he added, "It has been a slight distraction for me."