Paul Elbert Hamm (born September 24, 1982 in
Washburn, Wisconsin) is a US gymnast and Olympic
gold medalist.
In 2003, he became the first American man to win the
all-round title at the world championships. He
competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens,
alongside his twin brother Morgan. He won the silver
medal in the team event and was awarded gold in the
individual all-around competition, becoming the only
American man in Olympic history to win the gold
medal in that event. He nearly won the Gold on the
Horizontal bar but because of the tie breaker he was
awarded silver.
Hamm held a good position after three rounds, but a
disastrous fall on the vault, in which he nearly
fell into the judges' bench, dropped him to 12th
place and he looked to be completely out of the
running for a medal of any sort. Indeed, had a judge
and the bench not been able to break Hamm's fall, he
might have fallen from the podium and sustained
injury. However, numerous faults by the other
gymnasts, combined with Hamm's performance on the
parallel bars, returned him to fourth place after
the fifth rotation. His high bar routine gained him
a score of 9.837, winning him the gold medal by a
margin of .012, the closest in Olympic Gymnastics
history.
The brothers Hamm took some time off after the
Olympics to focus on school at Ohio State
University. They announced in February 2007 that
they would return to competitive gymnastics,
starting at the 2007 VISA Championships. The
brothers have also competed several times in Ninja
Warrior Sasuke, a Japanese sports challenge show.
Both have made it at least to the second round. In
March 2008, Paul won the American Cup held in New
York City. This was the first time he won this
competition and performed with a strong showing.
