Parallel Bars

ATHENS - Paul Hamm did not medal in two individual events yesterday. It didn't matter that much, though. He still has his all-around gold medal. And no one will take that victory from him. Rejecting controversy, Hamm again proclaimed himself the all-around champion. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) responded to a South Korean protest Saturday, reviewed the competition and suspended three judges after determining bronze medalist Yang Tae Young was robbed of a tenth of a point last week on the parallel bars.

PrepsFormer Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams has been named athletic director and head football coach at Point Coupee Central High School in New Roads, La.Williams, 35, will be paid $32,000 annually for his work at the new school, which opens this fall. The Point Coupee Parish School Board voted, 7-1, Thursday night to hire Williams. He begins work on Feb. 1.GymnasticsNavy's men's team raised its record to 4-0 with a 259.65-250.50 victory over Southern Connecticut at New Haven, Conn.

The Harford Gymnastics Level 7 compulsory girls team took the third-place team trophy at the Maryland State Championships, missing second by just .05 points.The team scored 104.55 points, just behind second-place finisher Top Flight Gymnastics of Columbia (104.60) and close to the winners, Marvateens of Rockville (104.80). The meet was at Barlow's Gymnastics in Annapolis.In the 8-11 age group, Cassie Demastus scored 35.15 in the all-around competition to place third. She also was third on vault (9.35)

The Harford Gymnastics' boys team competed against 41 clubs from 11 states in the Maryland Gymnastics Cup at the University of Maryland Baltimore County last weekend.In the Class V, 8-9 age group, Jon Wainwright finished third on pommel horse with 8.6 and third on parallel bars with 8.5.Teammate Brian Cubbage, a Class V, 10-11 age-roup competitor, won the gold on floor exercise (9.4) and horizontal bar (9.5). He was second on vault (9.4), sixth on parallel bars (9.1) and second all-around with 55.3 points.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - All Blaine Wilson wanted last night was to make people say "holy cow" in head-shaking wonderment when he walked on the floor for the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. Thirteen weeks after surgery to repair a torn left biceps tendon, the old man of the men's gymnastics squad wanted to let people know not to scratch him off the roster of the Olympics team yet. His divine bovine moment will have to wait. After saying he might try two of the six events, Wilson, 29, withdrew from the competition when a team official asked him if he was going to try to compete and then submit an injury petition to be included in the Olympic Trials at the end of the month.

ATHENS -- Finally, Paul Hamm relaxed. Yesterday, he basked in the glory of his Olympic gymnastics all-around championship that he won late Wednesday, the first such victory by an American man. He reflected thoughtfully on his comeback win in one of the closest finishes in gymnastics history. "I did not sleep with it," he said of the gold medal hanging around his neck. "But it was right beside me when I went to bed." Shortly after his victory, he watched a replay of his horizontal bar routine that clinched the championship over South Koreans Kim Dae Eun and Yang Tae Young.

Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm retained his title as the world's best all-around gymnast yesterday after three arbiters dismissed a challenge from the third-place finisher. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, rejected an appeal from South Korean gymnast Yang Tae Young, who wanted the competition scores and standings revised to give him the gold medal and Hamm the silver. The ruling closes the door on the two-month controversy and opens a window for Hamm on lucrative endorsement deals.

Paul Matthews of Columbia can't help but laugh a little about his introduction to gymnastics."I guess I was a hyperactive child," said Matthews, 15. "My parents put me in gymnastics because it took up a lot of energy."Nearly 10 years later, the Wilde Lake sophomore continues to put that energy to good use.Competing in the open class at yesterday's 29-team Maryland Gymnastics Cup at UMBC, Matthews took first place in four events, winning the all-around title and possibly moving a step closer to his dream of a spot on the U.S. national team.

GymnasticsThe Harford Gymnastics boys team competed in the Maryland Gymnastics Cup last weekend at UMBC, which drew competitors from seven states representing 29 gymnastics teams.The Class V gymnasts placed second in the team competition with a combined score of 158.8.Jon Wainwright earned gold on vault with 9.4 in the Class V, age 10-11 division. He finished fifth on parallel bars (9.3), seventh on horizontal bar (8.2) and seventh all-around (52.8).Bret Bailey placed third on horizontal bar with 8.8, fourth on parallel bars with 9.4 and fifth all-around with 53.3.

BOSTON -- Jair Lynch was in trouble yesterday at the FleetCenter. Not only did the 24-year-old gymnast fall from the high bar to land face-first on the mat, he got up and did it again. Penalized a half-point for each splat -- he received an 8.1 for the routine -- Lynch fell from fourth to seventh in the overall standings after two rotations of the men's optionals.It looked as if Wily E. Coyote had come to the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials.A 1992 Olympian who nearly won a medal on the parallel bars in Barcelona, Lynch was suddenly in danger of not making this year's team.