Time to heal for Hamm, US
PHILADELPHIA - It was like Show and Tell back in the fifth grade, where your classmate comes back from the hospital with crutches and stitches and harrowing tales from the emergency ward. Paul Hamm turned up at the
"You want to see it?" America's best men's gymnast offered, peeling back the bandage to display the 3-inch scar above the healing metacarpal bone on his right hand.
Not that Hamm needed to submit graphic medical evidence to get himself a place on the Olympic team without competing in the trials, which began here last night. His résumé is enough - a world title, an Olympic gold medal, and the huge lead he'd piled up halfway through last month's national championships when he fractured the bone on the parallel bars.
It won't be official until Sunday, when the pool that will produce the six team members and three alternates will be named, but it's as official as it can be. If there's any chance Hamm will be ready to raise his hand in Beijing in August - and his surgeon is highly optimistic he will - the selectors will put him on the roster now and let time, therapy, and training do their work.
"There's a good chance that I'll be able to get back to Olympic shape for the Olympic Games," reckoned Hamm, who was back in the gym just two days after surgery and has been ahead of schedule since.
If Hamm can get back to where he was in Athens four years ago, he's the difference between the Americans winning a team medal or not. "If Paul is on the team, he'll be in the mix in every event," said team coordinator Ron Brant. "He could be in the finals of every event."
Nobody else here can come close to that, which is why Hamm's coach, Miles Avery, assured him he could get him on the team even before he was back in the gym. "Already?" Hamm replied, somewhat shocked. "How is that possible?"
It was possible because of the calendar. Hamm broke his hand May 22, 10 weeks before the Games. Seven weeks is what Dr. Lawrence Lubbers, who did the repairs, calculated it would take for Hamm to be good to go. "It's giving us enough time to accomplish this," he said.
In the Olympic year, the timing of an injury means everything. That's the first thing Hamm wanted to know when the X-rays showed a fracture. "How many weeks?" he asked the doctors. "Be honest with me. Tell me the truth."
If Hamm had broken the bone last night, there wouldn't have been enough sand in the hourglass to get him back to Olympus. Getting hurt at the trials is everyone's worst nightmare and it happened to David Sender before Wednesday's practice. Sender, who won the US title after Hamm withdrew, sprained his ankle coming off the high bar and couldn't compete last night.
Yesterday, Sender was trying acupuncture, ice, anything that could get him back in action tomorrow. "If he can go, he's going to go, there's no doubt," said Thom Glielmi, Sender's coach at Stanford.
Sender already has petitioned for a place on the team and has the option of letting his scores from nationals, which make up 40 percent of the total, count for 100 percent. "He's a proven athlete," said Glielmi, "but it's definitely not good to not be able to compete."
Particularly at these trials, with all of last year's world team competing, plus Hamm's twin brother, Morgan, a two-time Olympian who was on the silver medal team in Athens. There's so much depth and balance here that it'll be difficult to justify putting two petitioned athletes on the roster.
Going into tomorrow's finale, the top four men - Alexander Artemev (90.650), Jonathan Horton (90.550), Raj Bhavsar (90.500), and Joe Hagerty (90.350) - were separated by only three-10ths of a point in the standings, where the top two will earn roster spots. "Besides Paul, I don't think anybody's a lock," said Artemev. "There are so many teams you can put together, so many different ways."
Even Hamm, whose credentials are beyond dispute, is uneasy about being here in street clothes. "I don't like being in this position," he said. "All the other athletes have to go through the process. I would like to be out there competing with them."
Lubbers, who inserted nine screws and a plate into Hamm's hand with a watchmaker's fine eye, would have him put into a straitjacket if Hamm even tried. Just getting him ready in seven weeks will be a challenge. "We're using every trick we can use," the doctor said.
As long as he can show competitive readiness in camp, Hamm will keep his place on the team. So far, so good, he reported yesterday. He can open and close the hand and has a full range of motion. But until Hamm can go full-out on all six events, he won't know for certain. And if he can't raise his hand when the time comes, he'll give his place to an alternate.
"It would be tough, but I've thought about it being a possibility," Hamm acknowledged. "If I can't do anything on the equipment, I'll say I'm done, I can't make it."
There's no such thing as a free pass to Olympus. Sooner or later, you have to raise your hand and perform. You just hope the hand is still in one piece when the moment comes. "We all know that anything can happen at any moment," Hamm said, "and that's stressful."
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.
