Every Olympics seems to be overshadowed by a controversy. And, this year it was gymnastics one. Paul Hamm won the men's all around, becoming the first American man to win. But, before Paul could even celebrate his gold medal, the controversy had started. The judges mis-scored a South Korean, placing him in third, had he actually be scored correctly, he would have won. Before Paul knew it, the talk was no longer about his gold medal, but about what he should do. But the bottom line is that this young American won a came back from 12th place to win the gold, as well as winning the silver in the team competition.

It had been 20 years since an American woman had won the Gymnastics All-Around Championship. Carly Patterson went to Athens on a mission and she achieved it. She came home with three medals. The gold in the All-Around, as well as silver in the team competition, and a silver in the beam competition.

2004 Athens Olympics was Michael Phelps Olympics. Having the toughest swimming schedule in the Olympics, Michael swam a total of 18 events. Michael won 6 gold medals and 2 bronze medals, breaking Olympic and World Records left and right. Michael showed that he was an Olympics Champion in the last day of the swimming events when the 19 year old gave up his place in the 400 medley Relay to teammate Ian Crocker.

21 year old, Aaron Peirsol, might have been involved in the oddest Olympics event ever. In a matter of thirty minutes, Aaron won the gold medal, disqualified, and then reinstated as the Olympic Champion for the 200-meter backstroke. Aaron also won a gold medal for the 100-meter backstroke event. Later during the Olympics, Aaron not only broke the world record for the 100-meter backstroke, but also won another gold medal for the 400 Medley relay, along with Ian Crocker, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak.

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