Is he the most accomplished male American gymnast ever?

Or is he the greatest difference-maker of all time in the U.S. men’s gymnastics program?

Or — both?

Paul Hamm on the rings in 2008 // photo by Paul Cheng, courtesy USA Gymnastics

There are those who would say that Kurt Thomas still holds the most profound legacy. In 1978, Thomas was the first American to win a gold medal in the floor exercise at a world championship. In 1979, he became the first gymnast to receive the James E. Sullivan Award, given to the best amateur athlete in the United States.

Thomas was expected to dominate at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Though the United States boycotted, Thomas nonetheless set the stage for “a lot of success, including ours,” said Bart Conner, who himself won gold on the parallel bars at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at those 1984 Games.

Even so, Conner said, “In terms of hard-core credentials — you can’t deny Paul’s.”

Is that where the debate starts? Or ends?

Simply put, you truly can’t deny Hamm’s credentials.

He is the 2003 all-around world champion. He is the 2004 all-around Olympic champion.

In Athens in 2004, he led the United States to a silver medal, the Americans’ first medal at an Olympics in 20 years. He was the rock of silver-medal teams at the 2001 and 2003 worlds.

He earned five medals at the worlds. He has three Olympic medals.

It can be difficult now for many to remember the furor that enveloped Hamm amid those  2004 Olympic Games. A fall on the vault left him in 12th, with only two events left. Incredibly, he rallied to win gold.

“He had ice water in his veins,” said Peter Vidmar, another of the 1984 team gold medalists who also won individual gold at those Los Angeles Games on the pommel horse, now chairman of the board at USA Gymnastics. “He was great under pressure.”

Best, Hamm always had an elegant style to his routines: “He was able to make it look effortless,” Conner said.

A couple days after Hamm’s triumph, meanwhile, the international gymnastics federation, which goes by the acronym FIG, said that South Korea’s Yang Tae-young had not been given the right start value on his next-to-last event. Add in the right value, an extra tenth of a point, and Yang would have scored higher than Hamm.

If, and this is a huge if, everything had played out exactly the same on the final rotation — which, of course, no one can ever say.

Moreover, the Korean team did not protest in time. And FIG said it couldn’t change results after the competition was over.

It took a full two months for all the legal wrangling to play out.

The crazy thing is that the process left Hamm in the position of having to defend his gold medal. And why? He did nothing wrong. All he did was perform under pressure, which is what anyone asks of a champion.

Another unfortunate aspect: Women’s gymnastics typically gets way more favorable publicity, especially in the United States. In the ordinary circumstance, men’s gymnastics in general, and Hamm in particular, stood to cash in — literally and figuratively — on that gold medal. Not in 2004. Not really.

To underscore how hard it is to do what Hamm did in 2003 and 2004:

In London this summer, perhaps the gymnast widely considered the best in the world, Japan’s Kohei Uchimura, will come through, and win the all-around gold. Uchimura is the 2009, 2010 and 2011 world all-around champ.

But unless and until he wins in London — Hamm is a member of a club, world and Olympic all-around champ, that Uchimura is not.

As Uchimura would know. He is the Beijing 2008 all-around silver medalist.

“Paul is the catalyst of the current era of success in men’s gymnastics we are enjoying now,” Vidmar said.

“He made everybody else better,” added Kevin Mazeika, the U.S. team’s national coordinator who in 2008 was the U.S. team coach. “When everybody is trying to beat not just the best guy in your country but the best guy in the world — that just makes you better.”

In Beijing, the U.S. men won bronze. That gave the Americans back-to-back team Olympic medals for the first time in history.

At last year’s worlds, the U.S. men won bronze again. Danell Leyva won gold on parallel bars. At the 2010 worlds, Jonathan Horton was the all-around bronze medalist.

The thing about gymnastics is that the sport is so physically demanding — you wonder what could have been.

In the lead-up to Beijing, Hamm was rocking his routines, “clicking on all cylinders and definitely positioned to make a very solid run at the all-around gold,” as Mazeika put it.

Then, though, just 11 weeks before the Beijing opening ceremony, he broke a hand at the U.S. championships. The hand and an injured shoulder ultimately forced him to withdraw a few weeks before those Olympics.

In July, 2010, Hamm announced another comeback.

In early 2011, he tore his right labrum and rotator cuff.

Last September, in an episode that still seems entirely out of character, Hamm was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, accused of hitting and kicking a taxi driver, damaging the cab’s window and refusing to pay a $23 fine. Last month, he pleaded no contest to two reduced charges, both misdemeanors.

With the court action out of the way, Hamm seemed poised for London.

But — that right shoulder especially, he said, was “clicking and popping and creaking,” making sounds “like when a squeaky door opens.”

He added with a laugh, “It’s tough to train through that.”

Paul Hamm will turn 30 in September. Asked how he thinks he ought to be remembered in the history books, he said, “For being a tremendous athlete who was dedicated and focused and an amazing competitor. And remembered for my biggest accomplishments. And also remembered as a nice person.”

Typical Paul Hamm — no mention of medals won.

“What I saw him do was elevate our program more than anybody in the history of our sport,” said Steve Penny, who has been with USA Gymnastics since 1999, its president since 2005.

“He became the Michael Jordan of men’s gymnastics in the United States. He became Tiger Woods. He forced people to raise their game in order to compete with him, not just in our country but around the world.

“He showed that an American gymnast could rise to the level of any gymnast around the world. He is the only guy who has been able to do that.”

Health, Fitness, Wellbeing and all things related are close to the heart for Stacie and I. We both have a background in Sports Science and is something we are passionate about. The Bart and Nadia Sports and Health Festival in association with The Oklahoman was dedicated to improving the health and fitness of all Oklahomans. A great cause, which was then headlined by the The Perfect 10 Challenge. This was the Sooners facing off with Iowa State and Southeast Missouri State at the Cox Convention Center.

Oklahoma (12-2) scored 197.200, beating Iowa State (195.175) and Southeast Missouri (189.600) easily, breaking 197.00 for the third time this year. Senior Megan Ferguson led the Sooners with event titles on beam (9.9) and floor (9.95) and continued her fantastic season, where she has being the Sooners most consistent performer. She is a joy to watch with some fantastic routines and you just get the feeling when she is performing, it’s always going to be inch perfect. The Sooners won  all four individual event titles, Sara Stone  (9.925) on vault with Brie Olson and  Hayden Ward (9.85) sharing the bars win . Taylor Spears also won the all around with 39.400. An all around dominating performance for the girls!

K.J Kindler spoke about the event in saying “What an incredible inaugural event for Oklahoma City. We were very excited to be a part of the first Perfect 10 Challenge. It was a classy event and I hope that more and more people will get involved, excited and come out every year to support this great cause.”

Former OU gymnast and Olympic Gold Medalist Bart Conner also mentioned that “Nobody is as polished as K.J. Kindler’s team” which will give everyone great confidence going forward. They do have a couple of early season losses but its better to get them out the way now and then finish strong and not lose another all the way to winning the Title! I fully believe the team has the ability, the passion and the leadership to achieve this. The whole squad is fantastic and the coaching staff are finest in the country (slight bias maybe, but its all the truth).

The team, after another road trip returns home to the Lloyd Noble Centre on Friday 24th Feb at 7pm. This is a tri-meet with TWU and #22 Michigan. I know many of you will be there, but if you have never been to the Gymnastics before, it is extremely great value for tickets and you will come away in amazement. The girls work so hard and really do appreciate the support and it would be fantastic to get more fans through the door to cheer them on to another victory. Heck, if I get enough response from this I’ll even think about giving away a pair of tickets from my own pocket to get a couple of people down…. the only catch is you have to be Stacie and I and talk in a British accent because we cannot be there!!

So get down and show your support! It can make all the difference! BOOMER

• Comanche National Museum – located in Lawton

• The Seminole Nation Museum – located in Wewoka

• Oklahoma History Center – Oklahoma City

• Route 66 Museum – located in Clinton

• Extreme Tornado Tours – located in Norman
• Arcadia Round Barn – located in Arcadia off route 66

• Chisholm Trail Heritage Center - located in Duncan

• Jim Thorpe Museum located in Oklahoma City

• Blue Whale of Catoosa located in Catoosa off route 66

• Arbuckle Wilderness located in Davis

To plan your trip today:
All About Travel
6104 Northwest 63
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
415.384.3880

Amidst the celebrity-filled events, including the Amber Lounge Fashion Show for Special Olympics and the Jet Set Yacht Party hosted by Jet Set and Denise Rich, Special Olympics athletes Sandra Franco and Philippe Calmes stole the show.  All of us from Special Olympics were treated like royalty, thanks to the gracious hospitality of our hosts and supporters, including Madame Mireille Calmes, President of Special Olympics Monaco; Oliver Sodeik, Board Member of Special Olympics Monaco; Peter Kappler, CEO of Jet Set; celebrity philanthropist Denise Rich; and Sonia Irvine, CEO of Amber Lounge.  And yet, despite the beauty and grandeur of the event, Sandra and Philippe, who will be competing at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, showed us what it means to impress. They were the life of the party, talking openly with everyone whether they were rock stars or waitresses. They flashed their smiles of pride and exuberance to anyone who looked their way and showed us what it means to win a high stakes race with their life, filled with courage and perseverance.

Special Olympics is beyond lucky to have the chance to welcome Madame Charlene Wittstock to our movement as a Global Ambassador. And we were so fortunate to have our longtime leaders Bart Conner, Nadia Comaneci and Angelo Moratti in Monaco to represent our movement. Linda and I felt incredibly privileged to be a small part of one of the most exciting events in the world.

But make no mistake: the real celebrities of the weekend were Sandra and Philippe. I hope you will follow them on their road to Athens. I guarantee you’ll learn something new about how to win the big race–the race of life.

Rad – Added to Collection Archive
Cru Jones is your normal small town kid who has hopes and dreams of doing something big with his life. Unfortunately for his mother his dreams have more to do with riding a freestyle bike than attending college. In between delivering the morning paper and running from the cops in a lumber mill yard, fortune shines on Cru and his gang of miscreants when Mongoose bicycles, headed by Duke Best, decides to build the ultimate monstrosity of a BMX track ever created, the aptly titled “Hell Track” right in Cru’s own backyard. Added to which, Bart Taylor the hottest BMX rider in the game, will be racing at Hell Track in support of Mongoose bikes.

But all is not well, for even after qualifying for the race in a series of preliminary events, Cru is told he is ineligable to race against the pros. But when the town rallies to his aid, and a little extra help from his new girl friend Christian Hollings and a nice cash boost from the local bike shop owner, Cru takes his place on top of a forty-foot drop into Hell Track alongside Bart Taylor, to take his one shot at immortality!

Soundtrack Listing:
“Get Strange” (Live)
Performed by Hubert Kah

“Baby Come Back”
Performed by Jimmy Haddox

“Caught Up In The Crossfire”
Performed by The Charm Kings

“Music That You Can Dance To” (Pulled)
Performed by Sparks

“Send Me An Angel” (Live)
Performed by Real Life

“Wind Me Up”
Performed by 3-Speed

“With You (Love Theme)” (Live)
Performed by John Farnham

“Thunder In Your Heart” (Live)
Performed by John Farnham

“Riverside”
Performed by The Beat Farmers

“Break The Ice” (Live)
Performed By John Farnham

Honestly, Comaneci bores me these days. Also, like many currently competing gymnasts, she wears too much make-up. The one tidbit I did find interesting: she had Thanksgiving with Geza Poszar (despite the fact that Poszar corroborated Trudi Kollar’s stories of abuse by Bela Karolyi, a dispute that Comaneci clearly wants to stay out of), who knows George Clooney! (Comaneci also mentions that she is still in touch with Bela and Marta.)

Otherwise, the interview is a yawner. They don’t even ask her to comment on the recent Olympics! If I had been doing this interview, I might have started with that, instead of chatting about her friendship with bodybuilder Joe Weider and the 1976 Olympics.

Anyway, what is going on in this picture??? You’ll notice that if you glance at it, it looks like Bart Conner doesn’t have legs.

Whaaaaaaa?

Oklahoma has a strong one-to-three punch in Jonathan Horton, Steven Legendre (Hypolito on floor!) and Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons. The team also has strong traditions, having nabbed four of the last six NCAA team titles. Oklahoma showed its strength by defeating no. 1 Stanford at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships last weekend.

Horton, now the most decorated gymnast in OU history (he’s even eclipsed double Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner) scored a 16.000 on rings at the MPSF Championships and walked away with his third Gymnast of the Year award. 

Penn State, although its roster boasts no realistic U.S. Olympic hopefuls (unless you count assistant coach Kevin Tan), has some speed going in as newly crowned Big 10 champions.

And Stanford? Well, they’re ranked no. 1.

Canadian Casey Sandy, who gained valuable experience at the 2007 World Championships in September, is has been ranked the top NCAA all-arounder all season. Also in the hunt are Stanford’s David Sender and Illinois’ Wes Haagensen, currently ranked second and third.

David Sender, 2008 Windy City Invitational, Vault:

The NCAA men’s gymnastics championships will be hosted by Stanford April 17-19.

“I think it’s the right time to retire,” the 34-year-old told Bulgarian Darik radio on Wednesday. “I want to do things in the best possible way.”

Jovtchev is training for an unprecedented fifth Olympic Games.

Actually, it’s not unprecedented. Barring injury, also heading to Olympics number five this summer is Soviet/Uzbekistanian/German Oksana Chusovitina, age 33.

What’s interesting about Jovtchev is that the best parts of his gymnastics career seemed to begin long after it was supposed to be over.

When Jovtchev came out of retirement to compete at the 1998 American Cup, people kind of poo-pooed it. It was so easy to see the former Bulgarian as a “dinosaur,” a word used too frequently by the NBC commentators to describe gymnasts over the age of 20.

That’s the thing about dinosaurs: they may be old, but they’re still big and capable of huge amounts of destruction.

Jovtchev took his moderate success at the American Cup, left Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Oklahoma where he’s been coaching, and went back to Bulgaria. Olympic success followed: bronze medals on rings and floor in Sydney, another bronze on floor in Athens and the silver on rings there as well.

Many believe he should have been the Olympic Rings champion in 2004. But he was passed over in favor of Greek native Dimosthenos Tampakos in what might have been the biggest display of partisanship during a Games where men’s gymnastics was tainted by numerous judging scandals.

Jordan Jovtchev, 2004 Olympic Games Event Finals, Rings:

Jovtchev is currently the world bronze medalist on floor exercise. All told, he has four World Championship medals of each color, including two all-around bronzes from the 1999 and 2001 Worlds.