Paul Hamm not going to Olympics

Paul Hamm won't be going to the Beijing Olympics, after all.

The reigning Olympic gold medalist announced Monday that he is withdrawing from the U.S. team because his broken right hand is not sufficiently healthy enough for him to compete in Beijing.

He also hurt his rotator cuff in his accelerated recovery effort.

The U.S. men are scheduled to leave Wednesday, competition begins Aug. 9.

One of the alternates " Sasha Artemev, David Durante and Raj Bhavsar " will take his place.

The news is a blow for Hamm and the Americans. Hamm broke his hand May 22 at the national championships, just 11 weeks before the start of the games. He had surgery five days later and pushed his recovery in hopes he'd be healthy enough to help the Americans get back on the podium and defend his gold medal.