Healed P. Hamm on team

Gymnast broke hand 8 weeks ago

From wire reports

July 20, 2008

Paul Hamm is going to the Olympics again, thanks to a performance yesterday that ended any doubt about whether his broken hand has healed.

Eight weeks after breaking his right hand, Hamm needed to show competitive readiness at the last intrasquad meet before the U.S. team leaves for China. After a short meeting, the men's selection committee confirmed the defending Olympic champion would be on the team.

It wasn't exactly a stroll for Hamm, who grimaced and grunted his way through his rings routine and nearly fell during his high bar landing.

But nobody was expecting perfection.

What they wanted to make sure of was that the hand had healed sufficiently, that his routines were rounding into form and that the spot awarded him after he petitioned his way through nationals and Olympic trials should still be his.

Answers: Yes, yes and yes.

The Americans go through team qualifying in Beijing on Aug. 9.

"For him, it was about making the team today," said Paul's twin brother, Morgan. "He had extra pressure put on him today. ... But we just say, 'Go do gymnastics.' He knows when he gets in these situations, his body goes on automatic pilot, and Paul Hamm comes out."

•DivingLaura Wilkinson and her partner Jessica Livingston have lost their appeal to compete in 10-meter synchronized platform diving at the Beijing Olympics. An arbitrator ruled to keep 15-year-olds Haley Ishimatsu and Mary Beth Dunnichay as the synchro platform team. Wilkinson and Livingston had filed a complaint against USA Diving and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

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Healed P. Hamm on team

Gymnast broke hand 8 weeks ago

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Healed P. Hamm on team

Gymnast broke hand 8 weeks ago

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