Hamm Stands Out, Even as He Sits

'04 Gold Medalist Has Broken Hand

PHILADELPHIA, June 19 -- Ostensibly, the most important developments Thursday at Wachovia Center came on the floor, where Alexander Artemev and Jonathan Horton tumbled and soared their way into the lead of the U.S. men's gymnastics Olympic trials. The paramount development, though, came two hours before any athlete appeared in the arena, when Paul Hamm pulled a fingerless glove from his right hand, glanced at a three-inch scar held together by three stitches, and said, "There it is."

Regardless of what happened here Thursday night or Saturday, when the men's competition concludes, Hamm is the United States' most decorated gymnast -- the all-around world champion in 2003, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in all-around -- as well as its best hope for medals on the men's side in August in Beijing. But while others were left to wow the crowd here, Hamm sat to the side, unable to compete -- or even do much training -- since breaking a bone in his right hand at national championships last month.

The good news: According to Hamm and his surgeon, he is on target to be fit for competition by late July, when he would have to prove to the U.S. Olympic selection committee that he can help the team. The bad news: His injury -- along with another to national champion David Sender -- detracts from the event here, in which Hamm would prefer to be healthy and competing his way onto the team.

"It's a tough situation," Hamm said. "I don't like being in this position. I don't think it's as fair as it could be because all the other athletes have to go through this whole process. I would love to be out there competing with them. But this is the only way for me to get on the team."

It is all but certain, even though he remains perhaps two weeks away from even performing the most rudimentary gymnastics skills, that Hamm will be named to the six-man team when it is announced here Sunday. He will, however, have to show during a training camp in July that the nine screws and a plate that now hold the fourth metacarpal in his right ring finger together have not hindered his preparation. To do that, Hamm and his surgeon, hand specialist Lawrence M. Lubbers, are pursuing an aggressive recovery schedule.

"We're using every hand surgery trick that you could use to accelerate his healing," Lubbers said. In that bag of tricks: using a stimulator that vibrates the bone; inserting a bone graft around the fracture; and even injecting the area of the injury with platelet-rich plasma that helps the bone heal faster. The goal is to get Hamm's hand absorbing force in five weeks and fully recovered from his injury in seven weeks. Lubbers said it might take 10 or 12 weeks for a normal person with more standard treatment.

"I think by seven weeks it should really be stable to where he shouldn't have a problem with it," Lubbers said.

When Hamm broke the bone in the final moments of his last event, parallel bars, during the first day of nationals, someone had to step in and win the title. That turned out to be Sender, of Arlington Heights, Ill. But when the gymnasts were introduced prior to competition Thursday, Sender limped across the floor and waved meekly to the crowd. During training Wednesday afternoon, he sprained his right ankle.

Thom Glielmi, Sender's coach at Stanford, said there remains a chance Sender will compete in Saturday's finals. But like Hamm before him, Sender submitted a petition to the selection committee in hopes of being named to the team over the weekend. He, too, would have to prove his fitness in July.

"The first thing you think when it happens is everything you've done up to this point is wasted," Sender said. "But I know I would be ready [in July] if they give me the chance."

Thus, at least on the surface, Thursday's first day was defined more by who didn't compete than who did. That, though, would give short shrift to athletes such as Artemev and Horton. Artemev was best on pommel horse. Horton struggled on that event but capitalized on high bar, an event in which he fell both days at nationals where his triple twisting dismount was the most difficult in the world. Horton leads Joseph Hagerty and Artemev in the combined scoring of nationals and trials -- which is weighted 60 percent toward trials. The top two men in that scoring earn automatic spots to the Olympics

"It was a sloppy day for me," said Horton, whose six-event total of 90.55 points was one tenth behind Artemev. "I can do way better."

At least he will have that chance. The competitors, though, appear to have no problem with the petition process that could allow Hamm or Sender, or both, on to the team.

"People ask me all the time, 'Well, he's maybe kind of stole the spotlight from you; you were the top guy in the country this past year,' " Horton said of Hamm. "I don't care. I want to be on that podium with the United States Olympic team, standing up there with a shiny medal. Gold, silver, bronze. It's an Olympic medal. And I know he's the guy who can get us up there."