One of the two went on to make Olympic history for himself.  Paul Hamm made on of the most memorable comebacks in the Olympics has ever seen in the men's all-around competition.  His night began with three stellar performances: a 9.725 on the floor exercise, a 9.7 on the pommel horse, and a 9.587 on rings.  These scores had Hamm securely anchored in first place.   

     Then came the catastrophe.  Paul Hamm claims his vault "felt good in the air."  The landing, however, couldn't have felt too good.  Hamm found himself on top of the judges' table at the end of the vault, a favor which was returned with a score of 9.137.  The World Champion plummeted to twelfth place.  His shot at a medal seemed hopeless. 

     Apparently, the word "hopeless is not in Paul Hamm's vocabulary.  it was, however, on the minds of spectators watching the competition across the globe.  A comeback from 12th to 1st, or even to 3rd, was near impossible.

    Never mind impossible.  Hamm gave the parallel bars his best shot.  It turns out his best sot was pretty good-it landed him a 9.837.  Suddenly, a bronze medal didn't seem so out of reach.      

     One final event, the high bar, had the power to make or break it for Paul Hamm.  His best apparatus, came through for him-all the way to the gold medal.  Three perfect releases and a flawless landing earned Hamm a 9.837, putting him 0.012 ahead of Kim Dae-eun of Japan.  He'd become one of the greatest gymnasts the United States had ever seen.

     Unfortunately, controversy marred Hamm's incredible performance.  Yang Tae-Young, the bronze medallist, argued his high bar routine was given the wrong starting value: a 9.9 instead of a 10. 0.01 of a point would have made the difference between a gold and a bronze for the Japanese gymnast.

     Nevertheless, Paul Hamm's gold shone more brightly than almost any other gold in Athens.  The Wisconsin farm boy captured the hearts of people around the globe because of his determination...and his gymnastics.