Sport - Olympic Games

Hamm will not go to Beijing

CHICAGO: U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm will not be going to the Beijing Olympics and defending his all-around title.

Hamm announced on Monday that he was withdrawing from the U.S. team because his broken right hand was not sufficiently healthy enough for him to compete in Beijing.

He also hurt his rotator cuff in his accelerated recovery effort.

The U.S. men are scheduled to leave on Wednesday, and competition begins on August 9. One of the alternates — Sasha Artemev, David Durante and Raj Bhavsar — will take his place.

Hamm broke his hand on May 22 at the national championships, just 11 weeks before the start of the games. He had surgery five days later and pushed his recovery in hopes he’d be healthy enough to help the Americans get back on the podium and defend his gold medal.

Hamm’s withdrawal ends the career of one of the best ever U.S. gymnasts. He was the only American man to win the world (2003) and Olympic (2004) titles, and he led the United States to a silver medal in Athens, its first at the Olympics in 20 years.

He appeared to be on track at a week-long training camp two weeks ago, where he proved he was physically able to compete at a July 19 intrasquad meet. Hamm did portions of all six events that day, looking particularly good on floor exercise, and estimated he was about 90 per cent healthy.

After returning home, he decided over the weekend that it was better to let a healthy athlete take his spot. — AP

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