Yang Tae-young

Yang was born in Seoul in 1980. He has a brother, Yang Tae-Seok who is also a gymnast. == Gymnastics career ==

Yang began practicing gymnastics in middle school, a relatively late age compared to other competitive artistic gymnasts. Yang first competed at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2001, placing eighth in the team event. At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, he won the silver medal in the team event. He competed at the 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, helping South Korea qualify a team to the 2004 Olympics by finishing in twelfth place. At the 2004 Olympics, the South Korean team placed in fourth in the team event. Yang placed in tenth on the high bar and won the bronze medal in the all-around, controversially missing out on gold due to a judging error. He won a bronze medal at the team event in the 2006 Asian Games. ==2004 Olympics controversy==

Yang is perhaps best known for being one of the athletes involved in a major judging scandal at the 2004 Olympics. In the all-around, Yang finished third, behind his teammate Kim Dae-Eun and American Paul Hamm. When Yang performed on the parallel bars, one of his elements was mistaken for a simpler skill. Consequently, his routine only received a start value of 9.9. The Korean Olympic Committee, Yang and his coaches filed a protest about the results, and an investigation was opened. After reviewing the situation, International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officials acknowledged that the SV for the routine had indeed been incorrectly calculated, and suspended the three judges responsible for the error but ruled that there was no way to change the results after the meet had concluded. A major point of contention was the time at which the score protest was filed. Under FIG rules, score protests must be filed immediately, during the actual competition, to be considered. The Korean Olympic Committee claimed that one of the judges on the parallel bars panel, Kim Dong Min, noticed that the Start Value was amiss during the competition, informed Yang's coaches directly after the meet, and that a protest was lodged around the time of the medal ceremony. The FIG stated that in fact, no protest had been filed until later in the day, when the athletes were leaving the arena. On August 28, 2004, Yang and the Korean Olympic Committee filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Arbitrators Michael J. Beloff (United Kingdom), Dirk-Reiner Martens (Germany) and Sharad Rao (Kenya) deliberated over the case for several months, during which time Paul Hamm was called to Lausanne to speak at a hearing. On October 21, 2004, the CAS announced that the case was being dismissed. The two main reasons given for the dismissal of the case were: • Whether the score protest had occurred according to the KOC or the FIG's version of the events, it had still taken place after the conclusion of the competition, and thus was not valid under FIG rules. • The judging could be considered a "field of play" decision, and could not be rescinded after the fact to change the results. After the Olympics, the Korean Olympic Committee awarded Yang a symbolic gold medal, expressing their support. They also gave him the same $20,000 prize awarded to gold medalists. == Post-competitive career ==

After retiring from competition, Yang went on to continue coaching gymnastics. ==References==