Morgan Carl Hamm (born September 24, 1982 in Washburn, Wisconsin) is an American retired artistic gymnast and former member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team. He is an Olympic silver medalist in the team competition at the 2004 Olympics and a two-time Olympian (2000, 2004). He was a member of the silver-medal winning team at the 2003 World Championships. Hamm was named to the 2008 Olympic team but withdrew from it due to injury.

Morgan Hamm
Morgan and his twin-brother Paul performing in 2008 on The Tour of Gymnastics Superstars
Personal information
Full nameMorgan Carl Hamm
Country representedUnited States
Born (1982-09-24) September 24, 1982 (age 42)
Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S.
HometownWaukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team2000–2005, 2008
GymTeam Chevron
Team Texaco
Swiss Turners
Head coach(es)Miles Avery
Arnold Kvetenadze
Assistant coach(es)Doug Stibel
Medal record
Representing  United States
Men's artistic gymnastics
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 1 0
World Championships 0 1 0
Pacific Alliance Championships 2 0 1
Total 2 2 1
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2004 Athens Team
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2003 Anaheim Team
Pacific Alliance Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Honolulu Team
Gold medal – first place 2004 Honolulu Floor
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Honolulu Pommel horse

Early life

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Hamm was born September 24, 1982, in Washburn, Wisconsin, to Sandy and Cecily Hamm. His twin brother, Paul Hamm, is the 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion. His older sister, Elizabeth (Betsy), is a former member of the USA Gymnastics Senior National Team.[citation needed] He was raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin and attended Waukesha South High School.

Gymnastics career

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Hamm competed at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney at age 17, and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, alongside his twin brother Paul. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the silver medal with the U.S. team in the team competition. Morgan's contribution to this medal-winning performance was vital as he performed on four of the six apparatus and was the highest scorer for the team on the vault and horizontal bar. He also competed in the floor and horizontal bar finals and only a tie-breaker kept him from winning the bronze medal in the latter event. Morgan was also a member of the U.S. team at the 2003 World Championships that won a silver medal in the team competition.

In February 2007, Hamm announced that he would return to competitive gymnastics. He competed at the 2007 Visa National Championships, on floor and pommel horse. He competed at the 2008 National Championships and the 2008 Olympic Trials. He was warned by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in July for testing positive for glucocorticosteroid,[1] which is not performance-enhancing or banned but only allowed if proper paperwork is filed to document that the drug is used for therapeutic reasons. Hamm received the substance through an anti-inflammatory shot to his injured ankle but failed to file the paperwork[2] and his results at the May 24 National Championships were thrown out.[citation needed] Hamm claimed that he had a legitimate medical need for the drug.[citation needed][3] He was ultimately selected for the 2008 Olympic team. However, Hamm withdrew from the Olympics on August 7, 2008, due to an ankle injury.[4] Alexander Artemev replaced him on the team.

Airflare

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Morgan Hamm was the first person to officially introduce the B-Boy maneuver Airflare to gymnastics.[5]

Personal life

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Morgan Hamm also competed alongside his brother, Paul Hamm, in the two 2005 Sasuke competitions (#14, #15,). In the 14th competition, he timed out before he attempted the "Rope Climb" in the First Stage. In the 15th competition, he made it to the third stage and ultimately failed on the "Curtain Cling" obstacle. Unlike his brother, he did not compete in the 16th competition.

In 2010, Hamm enrolled at Concordia University Wisconsin to study pharmacology. In 2014, he completed his studies and earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. He is currently a practicing Pharm.D.[6]

Competitive history

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2008 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2008 U.S. Championships Houston Floor Exercise 1
Vault 3 (tie)
Horizontal bar 3
Pommel horse 8

2007 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2007 U.S. Championships San Jose Pommel horse 9 (tie)

2004 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2004 Olympic Games Athens All Around 67 38.662
Floor Exercise 8 9.650
Horizontal Bar 4 9.787
Team 2 172.933 2 230.419
World Cup/Series Rio de Janeiro Floor Exercise 2 9.637 1 9.612
Horizontal Bar 1 9.550 4 9.275
U.S. Championships Nashville Vault 2
Horizontal Bar 2
All-Around 3
Floor Exercise 3

2003 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2003 World Championships Anaheim Team 2 171.121 1 227.743
U.S. Championships Milwaukee Floor Exercise 1
All-Around 4

2002 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2002 U.S. Championships Cleveland Floor Exercise 1
All-Around 4

2001 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2001 World Championships Ghent Team 2 166.845 2 221.420

2000 season

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Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2000 Olympic Games Sydney Floor Exercise 7 9.262 7 9.612
Team 5 228.983 4 229.208

References

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  1. ^ The Associated Press and McClatchy Newspapers. "Olympics | Gymnast Morgan Hamm gets OK to compete Archived January 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", The Seattle Times 30 July 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  2. ^ Amanda Turner. "Artemev Replaces Hamm on U.S. Team Archived August 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", International Gymnast Magazine 6 August 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  3. ^ "The article requested is no longer available". Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  4. ^ ESPN - Morgan Hamm joins brother on Olympic sidelines - Olympics
  5. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Morgan Hamm - Airflare Debut (w/ Interview)". YouTube. 7 October 2008.
  6. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/pub/morgan-hamm/93/63/428 [self-published source]
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