November 17, 2024
Sports

Olympic gold medal winner Paul Hamm joins coaching staff at Premier Gymnastics

The 2004 all-around champ second Premier coach with Olympic experience

By SUBURBAN LIFE

Paul Hamm (right) works with a student at Premier Gymnastics Academy in Downers Grove. The 2004 Olympic all-around champion is the newest member of the coaching staff. (Photo provided)

DOWNERS GROVE – Local gymnasts now have the opportunity to be coached by an Olympic medal winner.

Paul Hamm, the 2004 all-around gold medal winner at the Athens Olympics, is now a member of the coaching staff at Premier Gymnastics Academy in Downers Grove.

Hamm, a native of Washburn, Wisc., also competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2008, he was the all-around champ at the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, American Cup in New York and Pacific Rim Championships in San Jose.

Hamm is the second coach at Premier with Olympic experience. Last year Georgi Vidnov of Bulgaria joined the staff after he coached Bulgaria's 1996 and 2000 Olympic teams.

"We are really excited for Paul coming on board," said Mark Diab, owner of Premier Gymnastics. "With his huge technical knowledge from training and competition experience he will be a great mentor to all the kids in our program."