Morgan Hamm out; China gets competitive; 1,400 hours of Olympic TV broadcast (and 2,000 online)
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Bad news for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team when Morgan Hamm followed in his twin brother’s footsteps and withdrew from competing due to an ankle injury. Diane Pucin writes:
The ankle has been bothering Hamm for more than two months. He has taken two cortisone shots in that time including, one without the proper paperwork filed with the United States Anti-Doping Agency that resulted in Hamm’s getting an official warning. During Wednesday’s podium training, Hamm landed gingerly on a floor exercise pass and afterward said the ankle hurt. His twin brother, Paul, the defending Olympic all-around gold medalist, withdrew from the Olympics July 28 because of a broken bone in his hand. He was replaced by alternate Raj Bhavsar. Alexander Artemev, who is capable of medal-winning brilliance but also confounding inconsistency, was chosen to replace Morgan Hamm on the team.
As the games get closer, Philip Hersh writes about two superpowers poised to go head-to-head.
The medal competition between the U.S. and China is a major plot line. Chinese athletes won their first Olympic gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games and have gone from 15 then to 32 at Athens in 2004, just four behind the United States. China has followed the old East German model of investing money and energy in sports with many medals at stake such as rowing and canoe-kayak. East Germany became an Olympic superpower to rival the Soviet Union and United States with a population of 16 million -- 80 times smaller than that of China.
Thousands of hours of coverage on tv and online will be available to viewers, says Steve Springer.
Imagine sitting down in a restaurant and being handed a menu that looks more like a phone book -- hundreds of pages, thousands of options. Who would have the appetite to try everything? So it is with the options for the Olympic Games, with a guide offering 1,400 hours of television and 2,000 hours of online coverage by NBC through its various outlets.
Springer then goes down a list of daily picks in which to wade through the information overload that will soon greet viewers in the coming weeks.
-- Tony Pierce
photo of Morgan Hamm in happier days by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP