Hamm confirms his spot on team

NEW WAVERLY, Texas -- Performing in front of a full-house crowd of nearly 1,500 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday, Paul Hamm confirmed his improving health and his place on the six-man men’s gymnastics team.

Hamm, the defending Olympic all-around gold medalist, performed at least partial routines on all six men’s events in a test meet in front of four of the same judges who worked at the U.S. Olympic trials. Later Saturday the U.S. women’s selection committee named its Olympic team here at the Karolyi ranch.

According to Dennis McIntyre, director of the men’s national program, Hamm’s scores were in the top three on three events and he demonstrated satisfactory progress on three key events -- still rings, pommel horse and high bar.

“I was pretty nervous,” Hamm said. “I felt like it was a real competition. I feel like I’m 90, 95%.”

Hamm had broken a bone in his right hand May 22, the first night of the U.S. national championship competition that was the first part of the Olympic qualifying procedure. He broke the bone during his parallel bars routine, his final of six apparatus performances on that night, and even though he fell after suffering the break, he finished the routine and led the competition by almost four points.

After missing the second night of the nationals, Hamm had surgery to insert nine pins to help the bone heal more quickly. He missed the two rounds of the Olympic trials, but his petition to be put on the team was accepted with the caveat that he perform in front of a panel of judges and prove he was moving toward physical readiness.

Hamm said he was most pleased about his ability to do flare work on his floor exercise routine and suffered the most pain on some parallel bars moves. He said that with another two weeks of intense training he felt he could be in the same top form he had at nationals.

Asked about gold-medal team favorite China, Hamm said, “They should be worried. China’s a great team and definitely the team to beat, but we look really strong right now. Also Yang Wei [the all-around favorite] should be a little worried too. He’s probably counting on me being out.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com