After the 2004 Olympic Gymnastics champion broke his hand on Stutz in Houston, I did not speak to even one person who doubted he’d be ready for Beijing.
This guy is a freak.
Earlier this year John Roethlisberger (who has probably hit more routines in competition than any other gymnast in history) said that, in his prime, he’d never been able to train full routines like Paul Hamm.
When I got back to Canada, some of the Men’s Team told me that Pommels would be the most difficult apparatus while healing. That hand surgery recovery took often longer than expected.
I would have thought PBars might be a problem too … But here’s Paul training Stutz:
In the training video footage posted July 10th Paul is doing long Pommel sequences, as well.
Paul will defend the AA in Beijing. He’s awesome tough.
(via a cool new blog – StickItMedia Men’s Gymnastics)
USA Today’s Christine Brennan threw USA Gymnastics some grief:
… The toughest move Paul Hamm, the 2004 Olympic men’s all-around gold medalist, made at the recent U.S. trials was to get out of his seat in the stands without putting any pressure on his broken hand. Yet he was put on the Olympic team once the trials ended, pending his ability to show his readiness next week. …
Brennan questioned why Hamm got a “pass” while World Champion sprinter Tyson Gay was eliminated from Olympic selection due to injury.
She’s got a good point there. StickItMedia called for a more flexible selection process in Athletics. … Next time.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 