Morgan Hamm

Morgan Hamm's spot on the U.S. Olympic team is secure. USA Gymnastics said yesterday that a warning Hamm received earlier this month for getting a prescribed anti-inflammatory shot without proper clearance from anti-doping authorities did not affect his qualification to the team. "It's really a relief," Hamm told the Associated Press from Colorado Springs, Colo., where he is at a training camp with the rest of the U.S. team. "Now I can concentrate on gymnastics without having any other distractions.

Morgan Hamm is almost certainly one of the top-10 male gymnasts in the world right now. It is his lot in life, however, to be the second-best gymnast born to Sandy and Cecily Hamm on Sept. 24, 1982. If not for a shoulder injury that still makes events such as the rings painful, Morgan Hamm might be every bit as good as his twin brother. As it is, Paul Hamm is the United States' best bet for an individual Olympic medal since Peter Vidmar's silver at the boycotted 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

The men's gymnastics selection committee, after deliberating 11 hours over two days in the heat of a Philadelphia summer, named a U.S. Olympic team yesterday, one it hopes will form a more perfect union than the 40-plus other permutations it considered. The American team, winners of the silver medal in 2004 and not favorites to win the gold medal this summer in Beijing, consists of returnees Paul and Morgan Hamm, as well as first-timers Joe Hagerty, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring, and Penn State assistant gymnastics coach Kevin Tan. "It was kind of an out-of-body experience hearing my name called," said Tan. The three alternates are Raj Bhavsar - who missed automatically qualifying on Saturday by 0.09 of a point - Alexander Artemev, and New Jersey's David Durante.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team saw its degree of difficulty increase again for these Olympic Games when Morgan Hamm joined twin brother Paul in withdrawing because of injury. Morgan Hamm, attempting to return from a two-year competitive layoff and a serious pectoral muscle injury, couldn't perform a floor routine without "sharp pain" in his injured ankle. After consulting with his personal coach, Miles Avery, Hamm made the difficult decision to leave the team. "This was an extremely hard decision for me to make," Hamm said in a news conference attended by his teammates.

The competition was over. The mystery wasn't. Paul Hamm and Brett McClure finished 1-2 yesterday at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, clinching berths on the men's team. "I didn't think this was possible," said McClure, who overcame a fall from the horizontal bar. "This was my ultimate goal. " "I'm happy we're going to put the best team on the floor," Hamm said. "I've looked at it event by event and I'm convinced we can beat [defending world champion] China. I think on their best day and our best day, we have a chance to beat them.

Don't be deceived by the name: Nothing complete will come from next week's Olympic gymnastics team trials. The 4-day event begins Thursday at the Wachovia Center. Afterward, two men and two women will be assured spots on the six-person teams (with three alternates) that will comprise the units that will compete in Beijing in August. Thanks to a computerized winnowing system that projects the best possible team, the men's team, with alternates, likely would be complete by the trials' end. The only thing is, Paul Hamm, who in 2004 became the only American man to win an Olympic gold medal in the all-around competition, won't participate in the trials.

Their competition finished at the 2008 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, Sean Golden and Kevin Tan said they were going to spend time relaxing with their families last night. The family part of those plans was easier to understand than the relaxing. It's more likely the two local gymnasts' nerves were as taut as their muscles. That's because after yesterday's final round of men's gymnastics at the Wachovia Center, Golden, Tan and five or six others were unsure of making the U.S. Olympic team.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team, its expectations as modest as its heights, marched precisely and smilingly into the National Indoor Stadium this morning for the men's team finals. With no Hamms and apparently very few eggs left in their baskets, and with the powerful Chinese and Japanese to contend with, the United States' medal chances seemed remote. After finishing sixth in qualifying, and having lost twins Paul and Morgan Hamm to injuries, they figured to be also-tumbleds.

Former track star Tim Montgomery, once dubbed "the world's fastest man," pleaded guilty yesterday to distributing heroin, averting a trial set for next week. Montgomery appeared briefly in U.S. District Court, answering "Yes, sir," as Judge Jerome B. Friedman asked whether he understood his plea to federal charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of more than 100 grams of heroin, the Associated Press reported. Montgomery was arrested in April and has been held without bond after a judge declared him a flight risk and a danger to the community.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team has never won a team medal in a non-boycotted Olympics, something coach Peter Kormann thinks could change this year in Sydney, Australia. "Our medal chances are great," Kormann said after the 2000 U.S. team was named last night. "I think this is the best team we've had since 1984. " The first four spots on the U.S. team were automatic berths given to the top finishers in July's national championships and this weekend's Olympic trials. So there was no controversy when Blaine Wilson, Paul Hamm, Sean Townsend and Stephen McCain were ticketed for Sydney.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team, its expectations as modest as its heights, marched precisely and smilingly into the National Indoor Stadium this morning for the men's team finals. With no Hamms and apparently very few eggs left in their baskets, and with the powerful Chinese and Japanese to contend with, the United States' medal chances seemed remote. After finishing sixth in qualifying, and having lost twins Paul and Morgan Hamm to injuries, they figured to be also-tumbleds.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team saw its degree of difficulty increase again for these Olympic Games when Morgan Hamm joined twin brother Paul in withdrawing because of injury. Morgan Hamm, attempting to return from a two-year competitive layoff and a serious pectoral muscle injury, couldn't perform a floor routine without "sharp pain" in his injured ankle. After consulting with his personal coach, Miles Avery, Hamm made the difficult decision to leave the team. "This was an extremely hard decision for me to make," Hamm said in a news conference attended by his teammates.

Morgan Hamm's spot on the U.S. Olympic team is secure. USA Gymnastics said yesterday that a warning Hamm received earlier this month for getting a prescribed anti-inflammatory shot without proper clearance from anti-doping authorities did not affect his qualification to the team. "It's really a relief," Hamm told the Associated Press from Colorado Springs, Colo., where he is at a training camp with the rest of the U.S. team. "Now I can concentrate on gymnastics without having any other distractions.

Former track star Tim Montgomery, once dubbed "the world's fastest man," pleaded guilty yesterday to distributing heroin, averting a trial set for next week. Montgomery appeared briefly in U.S. District Court, answering "Yes, sir," as Judge Jerome B. Friedman asked whether he understood his plea to federal charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of more than 100 grams of heroin, the Associated Press reported. Montgomery was arrested in April and has been held without bond after a judge declared him a flight risk and a danger to the community.

The men's gymnastics selection committee, after deliberating 11 hours over two days in the heat of a Philadelphia summer, named a U.S. Olympic team yesterday, one it hopes will form a more perfect union than the 40-plus other permutations it considered. The American team, winners of the silver medal in 2004 and not favorites to win the gold medal this summer in Beijing, consists of returnees Paul and Morgan Hamm, as well as first-timers Joe Hagerty, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring, and Penn State assistant gymnastics coach Kevin Tan. "It was kind of an out-of-body experience hearing my name called," said Tan. The three alternates are Raj Bhavsar - who missed automatically qualifying on Saturday by 0.09 of a point - Alexander Artemev, and New Jersey's David Durante.

Their competition finished at the 2008 U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, Sean Golden and Kevin Tan said they were going to spend time relaxing with their families last night. The family part of those plans was easier to understand than the relaxing. It's more likely the two local gymnasts' nerves were as taut as their muscles. That's because after yesterday's final round of men's gymnastics at the Wachovia Center, Golden, Tan and five or six others were unsure of making the U.S. Olympic team.

Paul Hamm is doing handstands on his surgically repaired hand, trying to speed the healing so he can compete in Beijing in August. Amber Trani was back in the Parkettes' center in Allentown three weeks after surgery for a ruptured disk in her back. Less than three months later, she will attempt to perform in all four disciplines in tonight's U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials. Mount Laurel's Darling Hill can't raise her arms above shoulder level without the torn muscles shrieking in pain, and yet she will extend them backward and push herself off a vault tonight and Sunday.

Don't be deceived by the name: Nothing complete will come from next week's Olympic gymnastics team trials. The 4-day event begins Thursday at the Wachovia Center. Afterward, two men and two women will be assured spots on the six-person teams (with three alternates) that will comprise the units that will compete in Beijing in August. Thanks to a computerized winnowing system that projects the best possible team, the men's team, with alternates, likely would be complete by the trials' end. The only thing is, Paul Hamm, who in 2004 became the only American man to win an Olympic gold medal in the all-around competition, won't participate in the trials.

Morgan Hamm is almost certainly one of the top-10 male gymnasts in the world right now. It is his lot in life, however, to be the second-best gymnast born to Sandy and Cecily Hamm on Sept. 24, 1982. If not for a shoulder injury that still makes events such as the rings painful, Morgan Hamm might be every bit as good as his twin brother. As it is, Paul Hamm is the United States' best bet for an individual Olympic medal since Peter Vidmar's silver at the boycotted 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

The competition was over. The mystery wasn't. Paul Hamm and Brett McClure finished 1-2 yesterday at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, clinching berths on the men's team. "I didn't think this was possible," said McClure, who overcame a fall from the horizontal bar. "This was my ultimate goal. " "I'm happy we're going to put the best team on the floor," Hamm said. "I've looked at it event by event and I'm convinced we can beat [defending world champion] China. I think on their best day and our best day, we have a chance to beat them.