ATHENS – U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm might have to share his gold medal as the all-around champ.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) held an executive meeting yesterday morning to look into a protest filed by the Korean gymnastics federation.

Hamm – the first U.S. man to win the all-around title – won the gold by .012, the closest margin in the history of the Games. A pair of Korean gymnasts finished second and third.

“In the case that judging errors have occurred, appropriate steps will be made immediately,” according to a statement from FIG.

The Koreans’ protest states that there was a scoring mistake that cost their athletes the gold. Because Hamm already has been presented with the gold, he can’t have it revoked on protest.

The claim involves the starting value assigned to a program. The more difficult the routine, the higher the start value, which is factored into the scoring. Yang Tae-joung, who won the bronze, received a start value of 10 on the parallel bars in preliminary competition, but got a 9.9 in the all-around. Had he gotten the extra tenth of a point, Yang would have beaten Hamm.

“Judges can make mistakes. That’s human,” FIG spokesman Philippe Silacci told the Associated Press. “But it’s like football. They cannot change the score once the game is over.”

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Mardy Fish asked his buddy Andy Roddick for some advice on winning big matches. Whatever the U.S. Open champion told Fish worked, because he’s about to play for an Olympic gold medal.

The unseeded Fish came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory yesterday over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who upset Roddick in the third round. In tomorrow’s final, Fish will play another Chilean, Nicolas Massu, a 7-6 (5), 6-1 winner against American Taylor Dent.

The women’s gold medal match has a far more predictable flavor: No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo.

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Vicente Escobedo‘s family and friends whooped and hollered and waved American flags when he stepped into the ring yesterday. By the third round of a fight that had turned into a boxing lesson, they were silent.

No matter how hard Escobedo tried, his opponent from Azerbaijan just kept piling up the points. The California lightweight became the fourth U.S. boxer eliminated from the Olympics, leaving just five left.

A day earlier, it was light welterweight Rock Allen who was never in his fight against a Bulgarian.

Two more Americans fight today, with flyweight Ron Siler taking on Tulashboy Doniyorov of Uzbekistan and middleweight Andrew Dirrell facing Nabil Kassel of Algeria.

Cuban fighters, meanwhile, continued to roll, winning three more fights yesterday to improve to 14-1. And 17-year-old British lightweight Amir Khan, the only member of his country’s boxing team, was impressive for a second time with a 37-21 win over Dimitar Stilianov of Bulgaria.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: With many Greeks on vacation and others just not wanting to deal with the Games, many Olympic venues have been empty. New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, in Athens to take in the events, said that won’t be a problem in the Big Apple.

“In New York, for every single [Olympic] sport, I can show you an ethnic community that loves that and will fill the venues just for that one sport. I don’t think attendance in New York will be a problem.” – With wire reports.