Gymnast Paul Hamm breaks hand in fall

HOUSTON, May 23 (UPI) -- Paul Hamm, the 2004 all-around Olympic gold medalist, may miss the U.S. gymnastics Olympics team trials next month because of a broken hand.

Hamm broke his right hand Thursday night at the U.S. gymnastics championships in Houston. The injury is expected to keep him out of competition up to four weeks. Trials to determine the U.S. gymnastics team for this year's Olympics Games are June 19-22.

Even if he misses the trials, however, Hamm could petition to be made a member of the team headed for Beijing.

Hamm suffered the injury in a fall during a parallel bars routine. Despite the fall he was about 4 points ahead of second-place Joseph Hagerty going into the second day of the competition.

Hamm won the all-around title at the 2003 world championships before collecting the gold medal in the same event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.