Injuries Slow Hamms, Duo hope to be ready for U.S. Championships

If Paul and Morgan Hamm of Waukesha are not fast healers, the U.S. men's gymnastics program could be in serious trouble this year. Injuries will prevent the 18-year-old twins from competing for the all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Aug. 8-11 in Philadelphia. The Hamms hope to be ready for the World Championships in October.

USA Gymnastics officals are holding their breath. The Hamms came out of nowhere to make the 2000 U.S. Olympic team as high school seniors and performed like 10-year veterans in Australia. Now, with five-time national champion Blaine Wilson out for the year with a torn rotator cuff, the U.S. program desperately needs the Hamms to be healthy.

"There's nobody else like them, except (fellow Olympian) Sean Townsend," said Stacey Maloney, who trains the Hamms at Swiss Turners. "The U.S. really needs these guys on the team with Blaine out."

Paul Hamm, who qualified sixth and finished 14th in the all-around in Sydney recently elected under surgery on his fractured right tibia. A screw was inserted to speed up the recovery process.

"He was complaining about his ankle off and on; we thought he had some tendinitis," Maloney said. "Then, at a camp, he hurt it doing a round-off. We couldn't imagine it breaking on a round-off. What we think is that he may already have had a stess fracture."

Paul has been wearing a boot instead of a full cast, which has allowed him to receive electrical stimulation to his calf muscle. Morgan, who finished seventh in the floor exercise apparatus finals in the Olympics, suffered an injury to his left shoulder during training last month.

"He was doing a difficult move on the parallel bars and he landed on the shoulder and compressed the nerve," Maloney said. "It was shutting off the electrical impulses to the deltoid muscle.

"His shoulder is just starting to wake up. He's been doing a lot of conditioning and strength stuff, but no hard gymnastics."

The Hamms were vacationing with their parents and were unavailable for comment.

Neither will be ready to compete for the U.S. all-around title, Maloney said. The top four finishers in Philadelphia automatically make the team for the World Championships. The two other team members are chosen by USA Gymnastics.

In order to be eligible for the at-large picks, the Hamms will have to compete in at least one event at the U.S. Championships. Paul Hamm will compete on the rings, according to Maloney, but will not do the dismount. Morgan is expected to compete on the pommel horse. "I'm going to have them do what they need to do (to make the world team), but I'm not going to rush them," Maloney said. "I'm sure they'll be picked. I'd be very surprised if they weren't."

Maloney said he hoped the Hamms would be ready for all-around competition at the Pan Am Gams, scheduled for mid-September in Cancun. That would give them valuable international experience going into the World Championships.

Maloney said he thought both brothers were capable of winning medals at the World Championships, Paul on the high bar and Morgan in floor excercise. Paul Hamm also could be a threat in the all-around.

"Not that many people in the world are good on all six (apparatus) because the new code is so difficult," Maloney siad. "Around the world, people are struggling.

"We're hoping to turn this (injury) into a positive with Paul. We're focusing on the rings, which was his weakest events. If we can strengthen that significantly, it will be great because he wad doing awesome in the other five apparatus."

Article (c) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel