Sweating to the numbers on a Saturday night

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PHILADELPHIA -- Long night ahead for some pretty good men’s gymnasts.

David Durante, 2007 national champion; Alexander Artemev, 2006 pommel horse world bronze medalist; Guillermo Alvarez, competitor for the U.S. world championship team the past two years; Rav Bhavsjar, a devastated alternate for the 2004 Athens Olympic team; Morgan Hamm, key contributor to that silver-medal winning Athens team; each of them has cause to worry about being selected to the 2008 team. Durante made an eloquent plea for himself. ‘I’m experienced,’ he said. ‘I’m a team-first guy. Every guy knows I’ll have his back, I always have.’

But then team program director Dennis McIntyre, a member of the five-man Olympic selection committee said: ‘One thing we have plenty of is veteran leadership and experienced guys.’ Good thing Durante wasn’t speaking to that selection committee.

Artemev is a brilliant talent, especially on pommel horse where he became the first

American since 1979 to win a world medal on the horse. Yet he fell off that apparatus in three of the four rounds of national championships and Olympic trials competition and was despondent Saturday afternoon. ‘I hurt myself a lot,’ he said. ‘I pray that the committee knows I can do a really stunning routine on horse.’ Knowing doesn’t count. Falling counts.

Morgan Hamm was limping on a sprained ankle, watered down his floor exercise routine and said he hopes the selection committee would realize that he is still rounding into form after undergoing chest surgery in January and was competing on a sprained ankle. Morgan’s brother Paul, who was named to the team Saturday, said, ‘I think you were seeing a depleted Morgan Saturday. But he’s going to get better.’

The Hamms’ coach, Miles Avery, suggested that Morgan’s ranking of second overall in high bar and fourth on vault, pommel horse and floor exercise, are the kinds of numbers that will serve Morgan, already a two-time Olympian, well. ‘As a team the U.S. needs pommel horse workers and vaulters,’ Avery said. ‘I think that will help Morgan.’

OK, he’s a little biased but Paul Hamm thinks Morgan should make the team as well as Justin Spring, Artemev and still rings specialist Kevin Tan.

-- Diane Pucin