SAN JOSE -- The U.S. gymnastics program, which has produced a steady stream of proficient pixies since Marta Karolyi became the women's national team coordinator, fell on hard times on the men's side after the 2004 Olympics.
Athens all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm, stung by cries he should give up his prize because a judging error shortchanged third-place finisher Yang Tae-young of South Korea, left the sport to bury himself in textbooks at Ohio State.
His twin, Morgan, also part of the silver medal-winning men's team, followed him to school. The exodus grew when five-time U.S. champion Blaine Wilson, an inspirational leader at Athens, also stepped away from the elite level.
The U.S. men were shut out at the 2005 World Championships -- which didn't have a team event -- and a young team finished 13th the following year. It took home only one individual medal in 2006, Alexander Artemev's bronze on the pommel horse.
Less than two years before the Beijing Games, the men's medal prospects appeared bleak.
Then, the comeback began.
The men finished fourth at the 2007 World Championships, and University of Oklahoma student Jonathan Horton took fourth in the all-around. When the Hamms decided to resume competing, the U.S. program took a dramatic upturn that advanced a notch this week at the Pacific Rim championships.
Paul Hamm, who led the U.S. men to the team title and won the all-around Friday, added titles on pommel horse (15.375) and parallel bars (15.825, shared with Wang Heng of China) to his haul Sunday at San Jose State's Event Center. He was second on floor exercise, third on the horizontal bar and fifth on the still rings, a spot behind teammate Raj Bhavsar.
"Every competition before the Olympics is an opportunity to test myself," Hamm said.
"This one is different from the events before, and they're helping me get experience in the team environment and to get a feeling for the individual event finals, which are so different from team.
"I think I'm getting close to where I want to be."
Artemev, trying a new move on the pommel horse, slipped off and finished fifth. He also fell off the parallel bars and horizontal bar and stumbled to a sixth-place finish on floor exercise.
Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, wasn't surprised Hamm came back to the gym -- or that Hamm won the Winter Cup and American Cup titles before prevailing here.
