COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Jonathan Horton heard the mumblings about Paul Hamm making another comeback.
"He's big competition," his friends told him. "He could take the national title."
Horton's answer didn't reveal any nervousness, just confidence. "He's one of the greatest gymnasts the United States has ever had," Horton said. "Why does that bother me?"
The defending U.S. all-around champion views Hamm, the only American man with an Olympic all-around title and a world all-around title, as more of an asset than a threat for a talent-filled team that has visions of winning a gold medal at the 2012 London Games.
Hamm, 27, of Waukesha, Wis., announced last week he quit his job as a finance trader in Chicago to make his second comeback in a sport in which he has claimed three Olympic medals and five world medals, two years after a rotator cuff injury in his left shoulder and a broken right hand knocked him out of Beijing, where the Americans surged to a bronze.
Chances are Hamm, deciding whether to move to the Olympic Training Center or return to a gymnastics academy in a Milwaukee suburb, won't compete until next year, possibly at the Winter Cup Challenge in February in Las Vegas. He should be ready for the world championships next October in Tokyo, assuming he adjusts to the altered code of points.
There's no way Hamm will show next month at the national championships in Hartford, Conn. The 86-person men's field is set, with Air Force freshman Colton Wulf and Colorado Springs OTC residents Alexy Bilozertchev, Andrew Elkind, Wesley Haagensen, Joseph Hagerty and Matthew Hicks. The 99-person trampoline and tumbling field includes Colorado Springs residents Kristen Bowman, Sam Chiacchia, Philip Gifford and Justin Hackett.
Horton said he calls himself "a 100 percent team player. My lifelong goal is an Olympic team gold. ... Paul gives us that edge. He gives us that ability to do that," considering Hamm led the U.S. to a team silver and won all-around gold at the 2004 Athens Games.
"If he can do what he's capable of and stay healthy, I think he could be a great addition to the U.S. program," added Chris Brooks, the all-around champion at the 2009 Winter Cup. "But we just have to wait and see. I feel like he has support from everybody."
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