Morgan Hamm's Injury Costs Him Olympics

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Morgan Hamm's eyes were red, his voice shaky.

U.S. gymnast Morgan Hamm performs at the pommel horse during a podium training ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

(AP)

The bone spurs digging into his left leg made it impossible for him to tumble, and giving up his spot on the U.S. men's gymnastics team was the right thing to do — the only thing to do. That didn't make it hurt any less.

Hamm withdrew Thursday, two days before competition begins. He aggravated a chronic injury in his left ankle during training in Beijing, and it never responded to treatment. He clearly struggled on floor exercise during the men's training session Wednesday, and it wasn't any better Thursday.

"This has been an extremely hard decision for me to make. I've given everything I can to be ready to compete at this Olympic Games," Hamm said. "It's best for me to step down and have another athlete fill my position. This is something for me that's very tough because it's end of my career, and it's not the way I had planned it."

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Nothing about these Olympics has gone the way Hamm and his twin brother, Paul, planned it. Not for the Americans, either.

Paul Hamm, the reigning Olympic champion, had to withdraw July 28 because he wasn't going to be healthy enough to compete in Beijing. Besides persistent pain from the right hand he broke two months ago, he has a strained left rotator cuff.

Morgan Hamm tore a muscle in his chest in early October, an injury that required a five-month rehab. He was able to return, but the injured ankle continued to give him trouble, and he aggravated it after he got to Beijing. Bone spurs from his ankle dig into his tibia, producing "extreme" pain.

When he wasn't able to do his floor routine during podium training, he met with USA Gymnastics staff to discuss their options.

"He expressed some concerns about his ability to continue. At that point, we wanted to have the medical staff take another look at it and see what we could do for him. Explore all the options but at the same time, we needed to know (Thursday) whether he was going to be able to do the events or not," said Dennis McIntyre, the men's program director for USA Gymnastics.