Olympic Gymnast Paul Hamm

And now for something completely different. . . .

One of the most inspiring Olympic performances I've ever seen was last night, when American gymnast Paul Hamm won the men's all-around competition. Mostly, I've been heaping a healthy dose of criticism, complaint, satire, and abuse on the Games, but not here. Paul Hamm was all but beaten when he lost his balance while completing a vault, but he came back and put himself in a position to possibly win a bronze after a routine on the parallel bars - then he went for broke on that apparatus. The result? A gold medal. He thought he could pull out a respectable finish after the vault fiasco, but he got something much more.