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Hamm Wins All-Around With Amazing Comeback
2004-08-19
ATHENS, Greece - He had to be perfect and hope no one else was. A fall on his vault landing sent Paul Hamm stumbling into the judges' table and all the way down to 12th place in the all-around gymnastics final. ``I thought, 'That's it. I'm done,''' he said. Far from it. In one of the most amazing comebacks in Olympic history, Hamm performed the two most spectacular routines of his career Wednesday to win the gold medal by the closest margin ever in the event. ``I'm happy right now. Shocked, actually,'' said Hamm, the first American man to win the Olympic all-around. ``To be in first place after that kind of mistake, I thought there was no chance to win.'' The final competitor of the night, Hamm needed a 9.825 on the high bar, his best event, to tie Kim Dae-eun of South Korea for gold - and he was dazzling. The highlight of his routine are three straight release moves, and he did them perfectly. Hamm threw himself up and over the bar, catching it on the way down once, twice and then a third time, soaring higher with each toss. His dismount was perfect, and he hit the mat with a solid thud before thrusting his fists into the air and throwing his head back in jubilation. He waved at the roaring crowd and then sprinted off the podium clapping his hands while his coach, Miles Avery, jumped up and down on the sideline. Avery grabbed him in a bearhug when he came off the podium. Hamm then dropped into a chair, overwhelmed by what he had done. When his score of 9.837 flashed on the scoreboard, the arena went into a frenzy. ``I thought I could win silver, maybe bronze,'' said the 21-year-old from Waukesha, Wis. ``I didn't think I could win gold until Miles said, `You're the Olympic champion,' and all I could think to say was, 'No way!''' It was, almost everybody in the gym agreed, the most dramatic comeback in the 108-year history of Olympic gymnastics. ``Totally unbelievable,'' USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said. ``I've never seen anything like it,'' coach Miles Avery concurred. ``The greatest I've ever seen,'' said Peter Vidmar, who won silver in 1984 and is now one of two American men to win a medal in the all-around. Hamm finished with 57.823 points, beating Kim by .012. The previous closest margin in the event was .017 by Leon Stukelj of Yugoslavia over Robert Prazak of Czechoslovakia in the 1924 Games. The women also had .012, in 1992, when Ukraine's Tatyana Gutsu edged American Shannon Miller. ``I thought maybe I could get first,'' Kim said. ``I'm rather disappointed and angry, in a way.'' Ioan Suciu of Romania wasn't happy, either, after finishing 0.126 points behind bronze medalist Yang Tae-young of South Korea. ``The only thing I can say is that the USA got something more than it deserved,'' Suciu said. But as defending world champion, Hamm is going to get the benefit of the doubt. And really, anyone who watched his last two routines could hardly argue with the final results. He followed the vault debacle, where he scored a 9.137, on the parallel bars. And after his straight-line routine there netted a 9.837, no fewer than a half-dozen of the gymnasts between him and first place faltered. ``You look around and watch what's happening on the floor, and you start to think about what could happen,'' Colarossi said. When Hamm got ready to close the meet on the high bar - his signature event - indeed anything seemed possible. He went through the routine without a flaw, flying up and backward across the bar and grabbing it three straight times with ease. He needed a 9.825 to tie Kim Dae-eun of South Korea for the gold, but he didn't know that. His score, another 9.837, flashed on the board. He hugged Avery, thinking he had secured the bronze, which was all he was really hoping for after the tumble a half-hour earlier. ``He looked at me and said, 'You're an Olympic champion,''' Hamm said. ``I said `Oh.' It was the best performance of my life.'' Another American, Brett McClure, also had a special evening. He was in third after five rotations. But he finished on rings, which is his weakest event, and wound up ninth. ``I took a picture of the scoreboard after five events, because I knew I was going to drop,'' he said. That scoreboard kept looking better and better for Hamm, who learned what it was like to win on a big stage last year at worlds. At that meet, he needed a 9.712 on the high bar to defeat Yang Wei of China. Hamm came through under pressure that time, hitting the release moves on that same routine to get the score and win the gold. ``It has been a dream of mine,'' he said after that one. ``World champion is as high as you can get, except for maybe Olympic champion.'' He's now both, thanks in large part to a decision to scale down a routine that used to include five release moves - four in a row, then another one a few seconds later. Avery and Hamm changed the routine to make it more dependable, and the change didn't diminish the value of the routine. ``He knows he's going to hit that high bar routine no matter what is going on,'' Avery said. Catching the bar three times is one thing. Nailing the landing is another. But Hamm did it, and Avery started jumping up and down, having watched his student come through under the most intense pressure. The wait for the score was agonizing. This time, though, that scoreboard looked beautiful, nothing like it did after the vault. Hamm sat down, and a look of exhaustion - both physical and emotional - came across his face. On the medal stand, he listened to ``The Star-Spangled Banner.'' Usually stoic, tears welled up in his eyes. His twin brother, Morgan, looked on from the stands. ``I'm happy right now,'' Paul Hamm said. ``Shocked, actually.'' He wasn't the only one. AP
Paul Hamm upstaged in Olympics Gymnastics (2004-08-22)NBC reverses slumps, sees Olympics viewers rise (2004-08-20)Hamm Wins All-Around With Amazing Comeback (2004-08-19)4 (11285)
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