Hamms' return for Olympic run undecided

ST. PAUL, Minn. — While the American men are vying for the U.S. championship, the undisputed best gymnast in the country — maybe the world — will be awaiting results of his board exams.

Olympic all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm and his brother, Morgan, are lying low from competitive gymnastics, finishing school and still deciding whether they'll return to the mat to make a run at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

That turns the U.S. Championships, which begin today, into a crapshoot, to say nothing of the next two years, which could hinge dramatically on whether the 23-year-old Wisconsin twins decide to come back.

"Heck yeah, I want them to come back," said Todd Thornton, who won last year's U.S. title in the first year sans the Hamm brothers. "That helps the team, and that would be good."

The 23-year-old Houston resident hurt his shoulder shortly after his big victory. He dropped so far down in the rankings that he lost the bulk of his funding from the national team — about $1,000 a month — and had to send letters to friends to raise enough money to fund his comeback, which he says is 80 percent to 90 percent complete.

Thornton's story is an unsettling twist for a men's team that overcame decades of struggle to win silver in Athens and appears to have many institutional pieces in place to stay strong.

Of course, it is only 2006, and there are plenty of strong, young gymnasts who could become the next Paul and Morgan Hamm, including David Durante, Sasha Artemev and Jonathan Horton.

But the names that have defined the sport so far this decade — Blaine Wilson, Jason Gatson and, most notably, the Hamms — aren't around this week in one of the first major tests of the sport's new scoring code on American soil.

The Hamms are both enrolled at Ohio State. Morgan is scheduled to graduate in March with a degree in exercise science. Paul still has about 15 months left before he gets his master's degree in accounting.

On their Web site, they say their decision about Beijing will come "in early 2007, after watching the new code develop and evaluating what they could contribute to the team."

They work out for about an hour and a half daily.

"They're keeping up with everything," said their coach, Miles Avery. "They're looking very good."

While the men look for a new "best gymnast" this side of the Hamms, the women know exactly who their best athletes are. Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin have dominated gymnastics for the past year, both on the world and national stage. Memmel is the reigning world champion, and Liukin won nationals last year.

The women's competition starts Thursday. But more than how they fare in nationals, the biggest question for these stars is whether they can stay at this level for two more years, when Memmel will be 20 and Liukin 19 — fairly ancient in the sport of women's gymnastics.

"You never know exactly, but the possibility is there" for both women to be key factors on the 2008 team, women's coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "It all depends on how they manage their preparation. At 19, you cannot work out like you did at 14."