No Olympic Repeat: Hamm's Dream Shattered!
Sooooooo close to the medals, yet so far away.
Unfortunately for gymnast Paul Hamm, his dreams of making it to the Olympics to defend his all-around men's gymnastics title have vanished.
After making such a quick comeback from the broken bone in his hand, Hamm has had to drop out, he announced Monday.
One of the team's three alternates will take his spot in the squad.
In a statement, Hamm said, “I have put my heart and soul into my comeback and done everything I could to get ready in time to compete in Beijing. After returning home from the preparation camp, I had a few physical setbacks, and it became clear to me that my physical preparations would not be sufficient to properly represent the United States and contribute to the teams efforts to win a medal.”
We give him credit. At least his team will have a better chance of winning this way.
Miles Avery, Hamm's coach, says “Two weeks ago, he was great, he was awesome and did everything he needed to do to be at the Olympics. But I was saying all along that he needed to rest. But he pushed it.”
Hamm broke the fourth metacarpal in his right hand back in May. As a result, he needed surgery and had a plate and nine screws inserted.
Ouch!
Sux for him.
[Image via WENN.]
Completely Gratuitous
This Is Not a Joke
The coach certainly didn't waste any time in weighing in with an I-told-you-so.
He didn't deserve his original medal in the first place. He only got the medal cuz the Olympics added the scores wrong and refused to give the medal back when he found out. He's a loser and probably can't prove that he deserves to be in the Olympics this year.
he totally cheated! he's a terrible gymnast, and threw a shitfit when he realized the Olympics miscalculated his score and they were trying to give the gold to the real winner, Yang Tae Young! I hope he cries himself to sleep for screwing over the guy who was supposed to get the gold. He's not injured, he's just a shit gymnast.
Paul Hamm's always been willing to "take one for the team."
NOOOOOOOOOOO,!!!!!!!!
if hes out raj better make it…
GOOD
he sucks. he soooooooooooooooooooooo did not deserve the gold medal 4 years ago. he is a lil bitch and he knew he could not take the heat of being in china where i'm sure the fans were gunning to hate his sorry bitch ass back to the US!
Raj Bhavsar replaced him. I think the US has a great team. I'm still not too sure about the new scoring method but o-well. Can't wait to watch them all. Especially Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin and Kevin Tan…
If one Hamm twin had been out it should have been Morgan as he should never have been selected over the likes of Raj, David or Sasha in the first place. I'm bummed for Paul to have tried so hard to come back from the injury but thrilled for Raj to finally have achieved his Olympic dream.
USA gymnastics selection procedures really need a rehaul.
He looks like a fruit.
That stinks. Sounds like his coach is PISSED at him.
He looks flipping cute here. He was born in my hometown! Ashland, Wisconsin.
Who cares about a gymnast's sexual preference? C'mon. It is about his or her athletic ability. He is not out there boinking people on the mat for a medal.
YAY! Raj deserves to go! GO RAJ!
How sad for him. He's doing the admirable thing by dropping out now. Michelle Kwan did not have a tenth of his graciousness.
Re: gay – I went to highschool with him and um newsflash he isnt gay you turd
I went to college with him and he made a pass at me and actually grabbed my dick thru my sweats one time and was feelin me up when we were wrestling and I had to tell him NO! Really I think he is bisexual at least if not totally gay. He was always looking at me with this odd look like he wanted me all the time. Now that I am in grad school I don't see him anymore but my experience with him is that he IS gay and that was the rumor on campus of him too so…. Make what u will of it.
is he related to corey hamm???
He looks like a creepy pediphile!
Re: Bec – You are the only person who knows that the hell they are talking about. I know all of these gymnasts personally and the rest of you are all morons. Morgan should not be on the team esp. not over the other alternates, but whatever. Not that I love Paul Hamm, most of the other guys are way cooler, but he is a phenomenal athlete and no one can take that away from him. I'd like to see any of you get out there and put in one day working as hard as all of these guys do..and none of the guys on the team are gay.. so dream on losers.
good, he shouldn't have won the medal in the first place.
Re: tt – Well I know for a FACT that Guillermo Alvarez who is part of team USA for the last few years and part of World Champs teams etc and was 6th at trials IS OPENLY GAY. His myspace before he set it to private listed him as gay and it was def HIS myspace and HE had HIMSELF listed as gay and he also is on outsports website and BOTH him and Clay Strother are openly gay. And there are others I am sure that are gay as well.
Re: wrong – Haha.. I am well aware of them being gay. I was referring to the Olympic Team, I should have been more clear. But whatever..you seem excited about that, want me to hook you up?