Briefly

Hamm can keep Olympic gold; South Korean appeal denied

For weeks, Paul Hamm’s Olympic gold medal sat in a drawer at his boyhood home, carefully tucked inside a sock so it wouldn’t be scratched or damaged. There was, after all, a chance he’d have to give it to someone else.

Now, two months after it was first draped around his neck, the gold medal is his — finally and forever.

Sports’ highest court rejected an appeal from a South Korean gymnast on Thursday, ruling that Hamm is the rightful champion in the men’s all-around competition at the Athens Games. The verdict is final and cannot be appealed.

“There’s been a lot of fighting for this medal. I feel like I’ve won it three times,” Hamm said. “I think it’ll mean that much more, that I’ll be able to keep it for the rest of my life.”

The decision by a three-judge panel from the Court of Arbitration for Sport ends a tussle that began more than two months ago, when South Korea’s Yang Tae-young claimed a scoring error had cost him victory. Yang asked the court to order international gymnastics officials to change the results and adjust the medal rankings accordingly, giving him the gold and Hamm the silver.

But the CAS panel dismissed the appeal, leaving Hamm with gold and Yang with bronze. Kim Dae-eun of South Korea will keep the silver.

Golf

Lewis off to his best start

J.L. Lewis shot a 10-under-par 62 for his best start on the PGA Tour and a two-shot lead in the Funai Classic at Disney at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Lewis putted for birdie on every hole and made 11 of them on the Magnolia course to match his career-low round. The only frustration was a 12-footer that lipped out on his 16th hole and a 5-footer that missed badly on the 18th.

Two-time Disney champion John Huston, Mark Hensby and Scott Hend were tied for second with 64s, while two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal was among three at 65.

Vijay Singh got off to a solid start in his bid to win his fourth straight PGA Tour event, which would push him over the $10 million mark this year. He had a bogey-free 66 to finish in a nine-way tie for fourth.

•Tom Kite shot an 8-under 64, one stroke ahead of Dana Quigley for the first-round lead at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Sonoma, Calif. Kite and Quigley played outstanding first rounds amid the standing water at Sonoma Golf Course on the first day of the Champion Tour’s season-ending event.

Figure skating

Weiss stumbles at Skate America

Michael Weiss had only one sure foot going for him in the men’s short program in Skate America in Pittsburgh.

“On Monday night when I was leaving my rink, I landed a jump and my heel separated from my boot and I never had anything like that happen in my life,” Weiss said. “Luckily I had a new pair of skates ready that I planned on breaking in.”

Weiss replaced only the damaged right skate and kept the broken-in left one for landings. But it didn’t work. He fell out of a quadruple toe loop and was unable to complete his opening combination of a quad-triple toe loop at Mellon Arena.

Because Weiss couldn’t complete the mandatory combination, he scored only a 64.82 and fell into second place behind Brian Joubert of France, who finished with a 72.10 despite a stumble of his own. Roman Serov of Israel was third at 62.24.

Basketball

Thorn signs extension with Nets

Now that he has decided to stay with the New Jersey Nets, Rod Thorn must make a decision on whether All-Star point guard Jason Kidd should go.

After signing a five-year contract extension to remain Nets president, Thorn spent most of his time discussing the pros and cons of trading Kidd.

Kidd, whose acquisition before the 2001-2002 season transformed the Nets from an perennial also-ran into a contender, has talked of leaving since the three-time defending Atlantic Division champions were dismantled in the off-season.

•Alonzo Mourning went through his first full-contact practice with the Nets since undergoing a kidney transplant surgery 10 months ago.

•Carmelo Anthony was cited for marijuana possession while boarding the team plane last week, though the Denver Nuggets star said the bag was left in his backpack by a friend.

•Describing the job as exhilarating and exhausting, Val Ackerman resigned after eight years as WNBA president to devote more time to her family.

Football

West Virginia downs Syracuse

Rasheed Marshall set a Big East career rushing mark for quarterbacks and threw three touchdown passes while leading No. 15 West Virginia (6-1 overall, 2-0 Big East) past Syracuse (3-4, 1-1) 27-6 at Morgantown, W. Va.

•The Scottish Claymores NFL Europe franchise has folded because of falling attendance, leaving the league with only one team outside of Germany.