Hamm can keep Olympic all-round gold: Court

The American gymnast will keep his Olympic all-round gold medal after the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal from Yang Tae-young.

American gymnast Paul Hamm will keep his Olympic all-round gold medal after the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected an appeal from South Korea's Yang Tae-young.

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"This is obviously a great day for me," Hamm told a teleconference on Thursday. "The decision from CAS confirms what I always felt in my heart - that I was the champion that night and I am the Olympic all-round gold medallist."

Hamm became the first American man to win the Games all-round title in Athens on August 18. Just three days later it transpired he had been awarded the title due to a scoring error.

In one of the biggest controversies of the Athens Olympics, the governing body of gymnastics (FIG) ruled bronze medallist Yang should have been awarded the gold as he was incorrectly docked a 10th of a point from his parallel bars routine.

The FIG immediately suspended the three technical judges involved but refused to redistribute the medals.

Following a 12-hour hearing at its headquarters in Lausanne last month, CAS upheld the original result on Thursday to end almost two months of legal wrangling.