Like most world-class gymnasts, Paul Hamm began competing in his sport at an early age. Though unlike most world-class gymnasts, Hamm had his twin brother, Morgan, as a training partner. Both began gymnastics as seven year olds, following in the footsteps of their older sister, Betsy, who had begun a year earlier.

Paul and Morgan’s rise to the highest levels of US gymnastics was as meteoric as it was historic. Ten years after they had begun competing in the sport, Paul and Morgan made history as the first set of twins to qualify for the US Olympic Gymnastics Team. The two missed their first semester of the senior year of high school to compete at the Sydney Olympics, where Paul qualified for the final of the All-Around competition, and helped the US Men’s Team to a fifth place finish.

Two years later, at the World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, Paul was awarded the bronze medal in the Floor Exercises. At the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim, California, Paul made history becoming the first American man to win the All-Around world title. He also improved on his bronze from the year before, this time taking gold in the Floor Exercises.

Following his success at the World Championships, Paul Hamm went to the 2004 Olympics as a threat for the gold medal. But a damaging fall in the vault, in which he nearly fell into the judges’ area, dropped Hamm to twelfth position and seemed to knock him out of contention for any medal. But after a number of missteps by his competitors, combined with his high marks in the other disciplines, particularly the Parallel Bars and the Horizontal Bar, gave Hamm a 0.012 margin of victory in the All-Around competition. It was the closest margin of victory in Olympic history, and it was the first time an American man had won the gold medal in the All-Around competition. Meanwhile, brother Morgan helped the US to the silver medal in the team competition, and just missed out on the bronze medal in the All-Around competition.

After the Olympics, both Hamm brothers decided to retire from competitive gymnastics and focus on their studies at Ohio State University. However, in late 2007, Paul announced his return to the sport, and won the National title that year in the Place Floor. In early 2008, he won the All-Around title at the Pacific Rim Championships. Having made history once before, it seems natural that Paul Hamm would want to do so again and become the first American man to successfully defend his All-Around gold medal this summer in Beijing.