...spotlight on Paul Hamm (he won the all-around at the Athens 2004 Olympics) "AP: Paul Hamm to Return to Gymnastics" - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070207/ap_on_sp_ot/gym_hamm_s_return_2 According to the article, Paul and Morgan Hamm aren't expected to compete at the 2007 Worlds b/c they are just getting back to the competition, but will be competing in various competitions - USA will need to get in the top 12 unlike the 2006 Worlds where the USA men's team placed 13th, to get to send a team to the 2008 Olympics in China.

Kind of like Amy Chow's comeback to her 2nd Olympics - do one Olympics, go to college, practicing a bit, and then making a comeback for her 2nd Olympics. Who's next for the men's - Blaine Wilson?! :D He was playing around with the idea while he was commentating on the 2006 Aarhus Worlds with Bart Conner on wcsn.com .

more on the Hamm twins: "Hamm's Comeback Just What U.S. Men Needed" - http://cbs11tv.com/sports/local_story_038104223.html Their plan: [quote]The Hamms are training six days a week at Ohio State as they work themselves back into competitive shape. They plan to participate in a limited number of events in 2007 while they finish school, including the U.S. championships in August in San Jose, Calif. Morgan will get his degree in exercise science in March and plans to go to chiropractic school after the Olympics. Paul will graduate with an accounting degree in June and plans to go to business school. They should begin a full competitive schedule in 2008 that will culminate with the Olympics in Beijing.[/quote] ...more of a emphasis on "THE TEAM" like in colleges.... [quote]"A love of the sport is a big part of it," Morgan Hamm said of their return. "We love gymnastics. We want to see what we can accomplish. To see if we can make the Olympic team again and win medals in Beijing. "Our No. 1 goal is to help team get back into medal contention."[/quote] The package deal... [quote]"We are somewhat of a package deal," Paul Hamm said. "We've trained together our whole lives and we want to train together. It makes us stronger, and it's going to make the U.S. team that much stronger."[/quote] This article gets that more: "Hamm brothers comeback just what U.S. men's gymnastics team needed" - http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/0207/stories/7_hamms_return.php (Hamm brothers vs. Hamm's instead of Hamms'....) -they left out Paul's quote on the 'package deal' though

This is the Hamm twins official web: http://www.hammtwins.com/ They started another web for their Olympics comeback: http://www.makingtheolympics.com/ Their announcement video of their comeback: http://www.makingtheolympics.com/videos/announce.html This has some video of some skills and what they're doing (conditioning) - and ya, they included their mess-ups too! And about their new web makingtheolympics.com (which can probably help them raise money too).

I know. I saw it in the paper today.

Hamm twins comeback: [quote]Degree of difficulty Ready for action again, diplomas in hand, are twins Paul and Morgan Hamm, who'll be looking to reclaim their spots on the US gymnastics team after taking time off to finish up at Ohio State. "We're ready for it," says Paul, the reigning Olympic all-around champion. "It's only a year left before the Olympics and we're ready to give it our all." Though the Hamms have been doing two-a-day workouts, it's questionable whether they'll be in elite form in time to make the team for this summer's World Championships in Stuttgart. The Americans, who finished a dispiriting 13th in last year's meet after winning silver in Athens, won't qualify for the team competition in Beijing if they can't move up a spot . . . [/quote] http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2007/06/20/an_idea_to_get_young_people_on_board/?page=2

"Rejuvenated Hamm eyes August return" - http://web.wcsn.com/article/news.jsp?ymd=20070630&content_id=33828&vkey=gymnastics_news&id=34012&dpre= Beal Karolyi's thoughts on their comeback too: [quote]The Hamms have planned to make their season debut at the Visa Championships, from Aug. 15-18, in San Jose, Calif. Paul Hamm expects to perform two of the six events -- the pommel horse and floor exercise. That's all he has time to prepare for in the next two months, he said. "They will bring back the spirit," legendary women's coach Bela Karolyi said. "They will shake up everybody. It's already happening." [/quote] [quote]"The younger generation was going to take over and be just as successful as the previous generation," Karolyi said. "But now when the reality didn't turn out the way they were hoping" change was needed. "Guys who thought they were set in place, that's not true anymore." Hamm won't directly say it, but the bitterness over the last Olympics has left him more willing to speak his mind and challenge convention this time around. "It played a large role in deciding to take time off," Paul said of his sentiments about the handling of his medal controversy. [/quote] [quote]A rejuvenated Hamm seemed ready this week as he performed an exhibition and signed posters for Visa employees as a sort of re-entry into Olympus. "I understand a lot more about the world," Hamm said. "When you're constantly stuck in this small gymnastics world, you lose the big picture of what's really going on outside. It opened my eyes to what the world is like and what I want to do to improve it in the future." The first step is to increase the visibility of men's gymnastics. Like figure skating, the women are the darlings of the Olympics and the men have been relegated to an afterthought. The Hamms plan to chronicle their comeback on a Web site to underscore the power and beauty of male gymnasts. The men perform six events, the women four. [/quote] [quote]But once in the gym, he thought, "I can do that skill, this is going to be fun." [/quote] Blaine Wilson might make a come-back too.