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Morgan Hamm Forced To Withdraw

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The Associated Press

Published: August 8, 2008

BEIJING - U.S. gymnast Morgan Hamm withdrew Thursday from the Olympics, two days before competition begins. He aggravated a chronic injury in his left ankle during training in Beijing, and it never responded to treatment. He clearly struggled on floor exercise during the men's training session Wednesday, and it wasn't any better Thursday.

"This has been an extremely hard decision for me to make. I've given everything I can to be ready to compete at this Olympic Games," Hamm said. "It's best for me to step down and have another athlete fill my position. This is something for me that's very tough because it's the end of my career, and it's not the way I had planned it."

Nothing about these Olympics has gone the way Hamm and his twin brother, Paul, planned it. Not for the Americans, either.

Paul Hamm, the reigning Olympic champion, had to withdraw July 28 because he wasn't going to be healthy enough to compete in Beijing. Besides persistent pain from the right hand he broke two months ago, he has a strained left rotator cuff.
Sasha Artemev will replace Morgan Hamm. Artemev, the 2006 national champion, was the bronze medalist on pommel horse at the 2006 world championships, but struggled with consistency at nationals and the Olympic trials, where he botched three of four routines. He was chosen over David Durante as Hamm's replacement and already was training in Beijing.

Two Koreas Won't March In Unity

South and North Korea will not march together in today's opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said Thursday negotiations for a joint march failed, calling it a "setback for peace" and reunification efforts on the divided peninsula.

Athletes from the two Koreas marched together in the same uniform under the blue and white "unification flag" at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Athens Games.

Boxer Gavin Withdraws Before Weigh-In

Frankie Gavin, the world lightweight champion from Britain, has dropped out of the Olympic boxing tournament because he didn't think he could make his 132-pound weight limit.

Gavin, 22, was perhaps the top medal hope on the resurgent British team, which qualified eight boxers for the games. He was in training with his teammates at their recent camp in Macau, but didn't even make the trip to Beijing in advance of today's weigh-in and tournament draw.

Olympics Apparently Bad For Business

Sanlitun, in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang neighborhood, is the city's oldest and most famous nightlife district. The bars are shoulder-to-shoulder for blocks.

If you're looking to have some uninhibited fun, Sanlitun is a good place to start. Except during the Olympics, that is. These days, security has been tightened everywhere, particularly against prostitution and drug dealing, with guards in some places posted four or five to a block.

A half-dozen or so randomly selected bar owners in Sanlitun said the other evening the police had been cracking down, and the bar owners had to meet with them every couple of days.

"They're telling us to watch out for suspicious people and to be very careful about drug dealers," said He Xin, the manager of a tiny bar called Luga's, who was wearing a Corona T-shirt that said (alluding to the official Olympic slogan: "One World, One Dream") "One World, One Beer."

All the bar owners agreed business had been terrible. Not only had the Olympics failed to bring new customers, but also traffic was even lighter than it was last year at the same time.

"Lots of foreigners were here before the Olympics," said the manager of Downtown, who identified himself as Mr. Liu. "But then they lost their residence permits. And the tourists are not coming, maybe because it is too much trouble," he added.

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