2002 US National Gymnastics Championships Injured Wilson Still Rings up Two Wins on First Night Note: For the The News Herald (TPNS) - 8-Aug-2002 - Cleveland, OH, USA -- Despite a nagging pain that followed him throughout the competition, Blaine Wilson was a dominant force on the opening night of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships yesterday at Gund Arena. The two-time Olympian won the still rings and horizontal bar national titles, and finished second in the parallel bars, but his fight to regain the national all-around title was visibly slowed by an injury to his left knee, believed to be a hyperextension suffered in warmups. "It's both in my leg and my knee," Wilson said. "It should be fine by (tomorrow)." The five-time national champion is in second place after the first phase of the all-around competition, behind another 2000 Olympian, Paul Hamm. The Columbus native forged to the all-around lead after a 9.85 in his favorite event, the still rings, and followed up with a 9.45 in the vault, when he began favoring his left leg on his landing. The injury appeared to worsen after a slightly off-balance landing in the parallel bars, but he came back with a rousing routine on the horizontal bar, winning his second individual title with a score of 9.90 and solidifying his lead after the fourth rotation. Disaster struck in the floor exercise, when a fall on Wilson's dismount garnered him a score of just 8.20. "It's all my fault," he said. "I should have done a different dismount." Hamm, who won the pommel hourse and vault titles, was in third place in the all-around battle after the first rotation, but was seemingly knocked out of contention after a slip off the high bar earned him a score of 8.575. "That's one of my riskier routines," said the 19-year-old, from Waukesha, Wisc. "I pushed it a little too far. I hit it 75 percent of the time in practice." But Hamm bounced back with a stellar 9.90 performance in the floor exercise to move into second place after the fourth rotation and entered the sixth rotation in a tie with Wilson for the all-around lead. His win in the vault pushed him into the all-around lead with a 56.575 score, 0.9 ahead of Wilson. Defending all-around champion Sean Townsend, the 2001 parallel bars world champion and a member of the U.S. silver medal-winning squad at last year's World Championships, was consistent throughout. He enters tomorrow's final round in third place with a score of 54.65. He also won the individual title in the parallel bars. The remaining event crown, the floor exercise, was claimed by Hamm's twin brother, Morgan, also a 2000 Olympian who had been sidelined with a shoulder injury for nearly 14 months. "It's awesome to be back out there," he said. "I'm finally back to my old self." The men's all-around competition resumes tomorrow.

| home | clip file | image database | upcoming coverage | Track Profile Report | About Track Profile | photo of the week |

TRACK PROFILE News Service | 27850 Euclid Avenue, Suite 8 | Euclid, Ohio 44132 USA Tel - 216.731.9648 | Fax - 216.731.9675 | email - bob@trackprofile.com

Unless otherwise noted, all contents on this website are compiled, edited and written by Bob Ramsak for TRACK PROFILE. All images and text copyright © Bob Ramsak and Track Profile. All rights reserved.