Hamm Wins U.S. Gymnastics Title

CLEVELAND (AP) - Paul Hamm ( news - web sites) has had so many close calls at big meets.

Second place at the 1996 Olympic trials. In contention for a medal at the world championships until he fell off the high bar. Second at the American Cup.

"We've had a lot of second places in his career, and it's so frustrating," said Stacy Maloney, his longtime coach. "It feels really good to put it all together."

And he couldn't have asked for a better place to make his breakthrough. Hamm won his first national title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Friday night, beating the deepest field the United States has had since the gold medal gang of 1984.

"I do feel like I've crossed a hurdle," he said. "I think I have the confidence to win a lot more easily now."

Maloney agreed.

"He's going to be right up there at worlds next year," Maloney said.

Hamm finished with 114.375 points, 2.375 ahead of Blaine Wilson ( news - web sites). That's a huge margin of victory, and it heralds a new era in U.S. gymnastics.

This was Wilson's first loss at a major meet in the United States since the Olympic trials in 1996, and it spoiled his bid to become the first man to win six U.S. titles.

Guard Young was third, while Paul Hamm's twin, Morgan, who was out more than a year because of a nerve injury in his shoulder, finished fourth. Defending champion Sean Townsend ( news - web sites) had a rough night, struggling on almost every event and finishing fifth.

"It was kind of like an empty feeling real quick," Wilson said of realizing he wasn't going to win. "But then it was like, `Hey, you're in second.'

Give Wilson credit, though. He missed last year's nationals after tearing his rotator cuff, and he competed this week with a hyperextended knee and bum ankle.

"It would have been interesting, that's all I can say," he said when asked if the results would have differed if he'd been healthy. "We'll see next year."

But there's no telling how good Hamm will be next year. Just 19, he's still a few years away from when male gymnasts typically hit their peak. Yet he doesn't have any obvious weakness.

His only trouble this week was a fall off the high bar in preliminaries, and that's because he does a high-risk routine.

"I felt if he hit his routines, he could win," Maloney said. "He has no weak events. There are very few gymnasts in the world today who are very good on all six events."

And Paul was very, very good on all six Friday night. He was consistently solid from the start, opening a bigger lead on Wilson with every event.

His parallel bars routine was one of the more difficult of the night, but he swung smoothly and easily. The only sign of its difficulty was an occasional grimace on his face.

He knew it was good, too, pumping his right fist after he landed.

His high bar routine was impressive, too. The apparatus has given him trouble recently — he hit his mouth on the bar at worlds, costing him an all-around medal — but he handled it with ease this time. He drew oohs and aahs from the crowd as he did three straight release moves — flipping himself above the bar in a somersault, coming down to catch it and then repeating the move two more times.

Morgan was already pumping his fists as his brother landed, and the two slapped hands as Paul came off the podium. The crowd shrieked in delight, then booed as his score of 9.625 was announced.

"I thought that was funny," Paul said. "But it was probably a fair score."

He made a slight mistake on his last event of the night, stepping out of bounds once on floor exercise. But he was so far ahead of Wilson by that point that it didn't matter.

A few minutes later, he was standing on top of the podium as the national champion. The dream he's had since he was a little boy was finally a reality.

"Look at him, he's good," said Wilson, who two years ago predicted that Hamm would beat the best in the world. "He's got every attribute of a good gymnast."

Article Copyright Associated Press