GYMNASTS FALL BUT DON'T FALTER U.S. MEN ENTER FINALS IN SECOND DESPITE MISCUES.

Byline: Paul Oberjuerge Staff Writer

ATHENS, Greece - They call it ``artistic'' gymnastics in the Olympics, but it was more like full-contact gymnastics for the U.S. men here Saturday.

Blaine Wilson was knocked nearly senseless in a fall from the high bar, Brett McClure plunged from the pommel horse and their teammates suffered various slips and bobbles.

Still, the Americans survived what looked like a Olympian case of nerves - and mild whiplash - to qualify second, behind Japan, for the team finals Monday.

U.S. standout Paul Hamm avoided most of the hijinks with a performance that puts him in position to win multiple medals.

Hamm qualified No. 1 in the individual all-around and also will compete for gold in four individual apparatus events - the floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar. Individual competition is Wednesday.

It wasn't quite Keystone Kops time for everyone else - the Yanks finished ahead of Romania, China and Russia - but these Yanks have had better days at the office.

``If you go out and have your best day on the first day, I think you've thrown the towel in already,'' Guard Young said. ``We're going to be sharp and focused for Monday.

Perhaps by Monday, Wilson might have a clearer recollection of his Saturday performance, interrupted and nearly ended when an unexpected dismount stuck him, on the high bar.

``First thing I thought was 'son of a (gun)' and some other things you can't write,'' Wilson said. ``And then I got real dizzy.''

Medical personal decided Wilson had not suffered a concussion. ``They said I'd be throwing up if I had a concussion, and throwing up at a gymnastics meet wouldn't be cool,'' Wilson said.

He took two whiffs of smelling salts and that brought him around long enough to allow him to score a solid 9.7 in the floor exercise, despite a pounding headache. Then, in his second act of selflessness, he took himself out of the pommel horse, knowing he was too woozy to be at his best, but costing him a chance to advance to the individual all-around.

``I had to go in the floor because Jason (Gatson) can't,'' Wilson said of one of his five teammates. ``But all of us can do the rings, and for me to go would have been pure selfishness.''

This is the new Blaine Wilson, the one no longer known for a short fuse and self-promotion. ``Four years ago, I was throwing tape balls at chairs,'' he said. ``But now I admit my mistakes and move on.''

Morgan Hamm, Paul's twin, qualified for individual apparatus finals in the floor exercise and high bar. McClure's No. 19 overall standing advanced him, with Paul Hamm, to the individual all-around final. In qualifying, five gymnasts compete on each of the six apparatus, but only four scores count toward the team total. In the final, three compete and all three scores count.

The U.S. has had little success in world team competition, other than a gold medal at the boycott-weakened 1984 L.A. Olympics.

``I see room for improvement in the final,'' McClure said. ``If we put all the pieces together, I think we've got a good shot at winning this thing.''

Paul Oberjuerge, [phone]

paul.oberjuerge(at)sbsun.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Blaine Wilson sits on the bench after a fall during his high bar routine required smelling salts. The slip cost him a shot at an all-around medal.

Amy Sancetta/Associated Press

(2) Paul Hamm kept the U.S. on track for a team medal, qualifying for the all-around final.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press