HOUSTON -- Blaine Wilson's comeback was over in the few seconds it took him to quit turning on the high bar and to stumble through a floor routine in a performance that was uninspired and hopeless. Paul Hamm's comeback was a nearly flawless display of precision gymnastics until one twisted finger and gasp of pain.
Hamm, who was best on two events and third on another, had a four-point lead Thursday after the first round of the 2008 Visa National Championships men's gymnastics competition even though he fell off the parallel bars after he injured a finger.
Hamm, the defending Olympic all-around gold medalist who came out of retirement with his twin brother, Morgan, 10 months ago, had his hand wrapped in ice and his face wrapped in an expression of frustration afterward. Paul Hamm said he felt something pop on the top of his hand near the wrist while grabbing the bars after a release. The pain made him drop off though he did get up and finish his routine, the last of the night.
His overall score of 93.450 put him in first ahead of Joseph Hagerty, who was in second place with 89.750. David Sender, who just finished his senior season at Stanford, and Raj Bhavsar were tied for third with 89.700. In fact less than a point separated second place from seventh, which demonstrated how dominant Paul Hamm had been.
Showing less fortitude was Wilson, the 33-year-old five-time national champion who was aiming to make a fourth straight Olympics team. He began his own comeback a year ago, training with the Hamm brothers in Columbus, Ohio.
But after competing on the high bar and in the floor exercise, Wilson walked out of the gym. "I just don't feel real well," Wilson said. "I was just tired."
Wilson was going to be a long shot to make this team but that was also the case four years ago when he was part of the silver-medal winning U.S. team.
As the oldest competitor Thursday, Wilson earned an enthusiastic reception from the crowd and there was another loud sound from fans after Wilson got a third of the way through his first event, the high bar. The noise was part surprise but more sympathy.
For eight years Wilson had presented a defiant face for a sport considered bland by fans that almost always prefer the women's version. Wilson rode motorcycles, had body piercings and tattoos. He bragged about bungee jumping and sky diving, pursuits that made U.S. coaches privately shudder.
