Paul Hamm Leads U.S. Contenders for Olympic Bid – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
June 25, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Paul Hamm, who trains with Ohio State men’s gymnastics head coach Miles Avery at the Steelwood Athletic Facility in Columbus, Ohio leads the all-around following the first day of competition at the 2004 U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Olympic Trials in Anaheim, Calif. Former Buckeyes Raj Bhavsar and Blaine Wilson are in ninth and 15th place, respectively.
Paul, the current all-around world champion finished the preliminaries with a 57.600, scoring a 9.7 or better on three events (floor – 9.8, parallel bars – 9.775 and high bar- 9.9)
Paul leads fellow Olympic contenders with a weighted total score of 40.420, as 40 percent of the all-around score from the 2004 Visa U.S. Championships is combined with 60 percent of the overall all-around results from the trials. Paul tallied a victorious 115.7 at the U.S. championships.
The Top 2 gymnasts from the trials will secure spots on the Olympic team, while the other four members of the squad will be selected by the program committee either after the trials or the team training camp in July.
Morgan Hamm compiled an all-around score of 55.7, placing him fifth with a combined total score of 39.335. Morgan’s best event of the evening was vault, where he earned a 9.8. Following his vault performance, Morgan earned a 9.650 on high bar.
Bhavsar is ninth with a combined weighted total score of 38.575. In the preliminaries Bhavsar tallied a 54.4 in the all around and produced his best routine on rings (9.750). The 2004 U.S. rings champion also notched a 9.4 on vault and parallel bars.
In his first competition since tearing his left bicep tendon at the Visa Championships, Wilson scored nines across the board. Wilson’s best marks were a 9.525 on vault and a 9.5 on high bar.
The final portion of the men’s competition will begin at 6 p.m. (EST) Saturday with NBC Sports airing the men’s finals from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday July 3. For complete results please log onto www.usa-gymnastics.org.
