Paul Hamm's Path to the Games

May 26, 2008

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Three days after learning the very bad news that Paul Hamm’s hand is broken, one thing is certain: Hamm is out of competition until Beijing, but he is far from out of contention for a third Olympic berth.

Hamm will meet with doctors tomorrow and plans to have surgery “very soon,” according to coach Miles Avery. “I hope it happens [no later than] Wednesday afternoon.” (The surgeon Hamm is meeting with in Ohio has also worked on Blaine Wilson.)

Hamm and his coach have already announced their plans to petition directly to the men’s U.S. Olympic Team, which will be named no later than July 1. An intermediary “training team”—six athletes plus alternates—must be named “within 24 hours of the conclusion of the men’s competition” at the U.S. Olympic Trials, which would be June 22. The men had hoped to announce their finalized squad that day, after the women’s Trials conclude, but Hamm’s injury could delay that, as it’s a given they’ll allow the Olympic champ every minute they can to heal. (Like the women, no less than two men’s Olympic team members MUST be named at Trials.)

The direct-to-team petition process, which the women lack, was put in place for just this kind of thing—in fact, almost for Hamm, specifically. In a sadly prescient comment to Inside Gymnastics just over a week ago, National Team Coordinator Ron Brant said you would have to be “the Paul Hamm type,” to even be considered for an Olympic team petition.

Barring a disastrous recovery, there is little doubt Hamm’s petition will be accepted by the five-man Olympic Selection Committee—National Team Coordinator Ron Brant, Men’s Program Senior Director Dennis McIntyre, Athlete Representative Jay Thornton, Coaches’ Representative Bill Foster and MPC member Stacy Maloney, Hamm’s former coach—but Hamm will still have to prove his “readiness” to coaches and committee members during the men’s pre-Olympic training camp, set to be held July 13-22 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

But make no mistake, if Hamm’s petition is accepted he is ON the Olympic team (as are the two gymnasts named at Trials) and can only be removed if he himself steps down or a demonstrable inability to compete is shown. These rules are imposed by the U.S. Olympic Committee, which must approve all Olympic selection procedures, and are strictly upheld due to liability and fairness issues.

There is no reason to suspect Hamm wouldn’t willingly remove himself if he weren’t ready. In fact, Avery said as much last Thursday. “Look, he’s already been to two Olympic Games,” the coach pointed out. “He’s not someone who would just want to be at the Olympics, no matter what, no matter how he did, just to be on the team. … No. He’s going to win. He’s going to help the team.”

Because of Hamm’s injury, the men may also make minor adjustments to their selection, such as picking three alternates, which the written selection procedures allow for both men and women, instead of just the two planned. Though whether that third alternate, should he be selected, would, or even could, travel with the team to China, is unknown. (Accommodations and travel arrangements for both teams have already been made, with alternates and personal coaches staying in hard-to-find rooms outside the Olympic Village.)

Once in China, the U.S. would have until 24 hours before competition begins (which, for the men, is August 9), to replace a team member with an alternate, should anything go awry.

Avery has said it’s premature to even discuss the possibility that Hamm could return, but not as an all-arounder, though at this point, with so much unknown, anything is possible.

“Way too soon,” Avery said of such speculation. “Right now, our focus is on getting surgery, getting back as soon as possible, and being at the level we [were before the injury], and, knowing him, I think that’s possible. I don’t think he’s thinking of being anything less. I know I’m not.”

In the end, how well, and how quickly, Hamm can get back will likely determine not only his fate, but also that of the U.S. team as a whole.

“We will obviously hope for the best case scenario,” McIntyre told the media, “but we will [also] plan for the worst case scenario.”

And losing Hamm, who looked very much like the Olympic champ he is before the injury Thursday night, is clearly Team USA’s worst nightmare.

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