Horton making strong impression

HARTFORD - Gymnastics' midterm elections - the four-day national championship meet that wraps up here Saturday night, halfway through the four-year Olympic cycle - may or may not give an accurate glimpse of the U.S. personnel and medal chances at the 2012 London Summer Games.

But the familiar process involving incumbents, retirements and newly declared candidates goes on. From Friday night's conclusion of the men's competition, a national team roster of 14 or 15 - and a six-man squad for the October world championships - will be finalized by Saturday. (The women will take a less definitive step toward their selection camp in Saturday night's action here.)

Paul Hamm, the most widely recognized male gymnast of recent times, is not here. Knocked out of the 2008 Olympics by injury, as his twin brother Morgan was, Hamm had taken his 2004 Olympic all-around gold medal into retirement.

Then, last month, Hamm announced he was planning a comeback, quit his job in the financial industry and, according to gymnastics insiders, should be in the mix for the 2012 Olympics. Now 27, Hamm already has resumed training and intends to return to competition by the beginning of next year.

Already on the gymnastics hustings here, and making a strong impression, was repeat national all-around champion and 2009 world high-bar silver medalist Jonathan Horton, the 24-year-old University of Oklahoma product from Houston.

Of Horton's 2008 Olympic mates who won the team bronze medal, Albuquerque's Joseph Hagerty, 28, and Penn State grad Kevin Tan, 28, struggled lower in the rankings here, while Alexander Artemev failed to qualify for the meet, Justin Spring now is working as a University of Illinois coach and Raj Bhavsar officially announced his retirement Friday night.

But, with a new prize-money pool now available to the men - the all-around winner here gets $10,000 and individual event champions $2,500 apiece - 18-year-old Danell Leyva of Miami literally threw himself into the contender conversation in a duel with Horton.

Chris Brooks, 22, and his University of Oklahoma teammate, Steven Legendre, 21; and Brandon Wynn, 21, of Vorhees, N.J. and Ohio State also showed world-team potential.

Then there is 17-year-old John Orozco, the three-time national junior champion from the Bronx, who was in third place in Wednesday's first round when he tore his right Achilles' tendon on a vault landing and faces surgery and a six- to eight-month recovery period. The only good news is that he has youth on his side, and still time to re-enter the race for London.