Paul Hamm
| Paul Hamm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| — Gymnast — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hamm in 2010
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Paul Elbert Hamm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |
 United States
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| Born |
September 24, 1982 Washburn, Wisconsin |
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| Hometown | Waukesha, Wisconsin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Men's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Level | Senior Elite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Ohio State University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Miles Avery Arnold Kventenadze Doug Stibel |
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Medal record
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Paul Elbert Hamm (born September 24, 1982 in Washburn, Wisconsin) is a retired American artistic gymnast. He is a World Champion gymnast and three-time Olympic medalist. He is the 2003 World all-around champion, and he won the all-around competition at the 2004 Olympic Games. He is the most successful American male gymnast, and the only male American gymnast to win all-around at World's and the Olympics.
Hamm is the son of Sandy and Cecily Hamm. His twin brother, Morgan Hamm, is also a gymnast and Olympic medalist. His older sister, Elizabeth (Betsy), is a former member of the USA Gymnastics Senior National Team.
Paul participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He finished 5th in the team event and 14th in the individual all-around competition. Despite the disappointment in Sydney, he had been making great improvement. He is a three-time, consecutive US National all-around champion, winning the titles from 2002–2004. In 2003, he became the first American man to win the all-around title at the world championships.
Paul Hamm competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, with his twin brother Morgan Hamm. He won the silver medal in the team event and was awarded the gold in the individual all-around competition.
Hamm held a good position after the first 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. His scores on the six disciplines were:
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