Paul Hamm to Perform Last Event in Finals

ATHENS, Greece - Defending world champion Paul Hamm (news - web sites) will close out America's quest for a gymnastics medal doing his best and riskiest event, the high bar.

Hamm's high bar set, which includes his signature — and very difficult — three straight blind release moves, is the last of the 18 routines the United States will perform Monday in team finals.

Under a scoring system put in during this Olympic cycle, three men will go on each event and all three scores will count. Last year at the world championships, Hamm closed the all-around meet with an error-free high bar set to edge China's Yang Wei and become the first American man to win the title. The United States is seeking its first team medal since winning gold at the boycotted 1984 games.

Hamm will follow Brett McClure and Morgan Hamm (news - web sites) on high bar. Of the three, only McClure could be affected by a scoring mix-up that cropped up a few days before the game.

After podium training last week, judges notified the U.S. team that they were lowering the value on the Stalder Hop Full, a move for which McClure, Jason Gatson (news - web sites) and Blaine Wilson (news - web sites) all earned higher marks at the world championships last year. Gatson and Wilson each changed their routines at the last moment. Wilson missed on the substitute move in Saturday's prelims, slamming his head on the mat en route to an 8.862. After the meet, Wilson said, "It's out-and-out cheating, that's what it is."

But Wilson's fall had little effect on the team results. It did knock him out of contention for a spot in the all-around finals, although he was a longshot to make it anyway.

Program director Ron Galimore said that while the change was unexpected and frustrating, it wasn't a make-or-break thing for the Americans. Of the three men going on the high bar, only McClure will be affected. He kept the move in his routine in preliminaries and, despite the lower value, was awarded a start value of 10, presumably due to other difficult moves in the set.

The Americans finished second in qualifying behind Japan. Defending Olympic champion China finished fourth, although it appeared the Chinese were saving their best stuff for Monday, when scores are reset. European champion Romania finished third and is also considered a medal contender.

The lineup:

_Floor exercise: Guard Young, Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm. Alternate, Wilson.

_Pommel horse: McClure, Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm. Alternate, Jason Gatson.

_Still rings: Young, Gatson, Wilson. Alternate, Paul Hamm.

_Vault: Young, Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm. Alternate, McClure.

_Parallel bars: Wilson, Paul Hamm, Gatson. Alternate, McClure.

_High bar: McClure, Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm. Alternate, Wilson.