Hamm Resumes Hard Training

Paul Hamm declared his independence from injury in a Fourth of July workout at Ohio State where the reigning Olympic Champ resumed serious training for the first time since breaking his hand May 22 at the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Houston.

Hamm, who first tested himself on the apparatus yesterday, is now cleared to try almost everything, on all but vault, where he’s sticking to drills over the table and landing practice for now.

“We’ll still be cautious,” coach Miles Avery told Inside Gymnastics today. “No el-grips, no peaches, stay away from the vaulting for a while. But every other event, we’ve tried and, so far, so good

“There have been no complications, no pain,” Avery added. “He’s come in with an attitude of, ‘Let’s try this, let’s do this,’ and so far we’ve been pleasantly surprised by just about everything.”

Hamm’s hand surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Lubbers, who inserted a plate and nine screws in Hamm’s right hand on May 27, was on hand to watch the workout and advise his patient what not to do.

“He didn’t do roll out skills or flairs on floor, but all the tumbling is fine,” Avery said. “He even did a double layout, no problem at all. On horse, he did lots of circles, simple travels, scissors—all without a problem.

“I figured he’d be able to tumble, but to be able to do a hard giant, tap hard, do a flyaway, that was really good,” Avery added. “Pommel horse was a very, very pleasant surprise. I think that was the best for us, to see how much he could do, already, and not have any pain what-so-ever.”

Hamm, who had been doing simple skills and hanging from the bar for weeks now, is happy to be back to “real” gymnastics. He and Avery hope to be doing half routines next week, and full routines by July 19, when Hamm will perform at the men’s pre-Olympic Training Camp to show his readiness for the Games.

“Obviously, now we’re tremendously encouraged,” Avery said of his initial reaction to Hamm’s workout. “There was some angst, some worry, before. But that, ‘Let’s go, Let’s push now,’ coming from the doctor—not me, not his brother, not anyone else, but from the doctor—that feels good. At the end of the day, when he found out how much he could do, he was very encouraged. And I feel much better, much more confident that the hand [will hold up,] now it’s just a matter of doing gymnastics, and I know Paul can do gymnastics.”

Avery is not quite ready to commit to whether Hamm will be on track to defend his Olympic title in Beijing, but says that, so far, all the news is good.

“His conditioning is just—he’s in the best shape of anyone on the national team—now he’s got to put that into doing gymnastics routines,” Avery concluded. “We’ll see. I’ll tell you in about two weeks from now. But I can say I’m feeling good, and I asked him when he left, and he said he was too.”