Give Paul Hamm a hand. And a plane ticket to Beijing.

The Olympic champion will get to defend his title in China thanks to a performance yesterday at Colorado Springs, Colo., that ended any doubt about whether his broken right hand has healed.

Eight weeks after the injury, Hamm needed to show competitive readiness at the final intrasquad meet before the U.S. team leaves for China. After watching Hamm excel, then gathering for a short meeting, the men's selection committee confirmed the 25-year-old defending all-around champion would be on the team.

"It's been a wild ride for me every since my comeback into the sport," Hamm said. "I'm just happy right now to be able to compete at this level."

It was a typically classy effort from America's best gymnast, though not exactly a stroll. Hamm grimaced and grunted his way through his rings routine and nearly fell during his high bar landing — signs that he needs the next three weeks to get in competitive shape.

But nobody expected perfection.

What they wanted to make sure of was that the hand had healed sufficiently, that his routines were rounding into form and that the spot awarded him after he petitioned his way through nationals and Olympic trials should still be his.

Answers: Yes, yes and yes.

"He's a very experienced athlete, a very intelligent athlete and a very calculating athlete," said men's program director Dennis McIntyre. "From an emotional standpoint, it's exciting to see how far he's come. We have no doubt he'll do what he needs to do to be ready."

The Americans go through team qualifying in Beijing on Aug. 9.

The selection committee mainly wanted to see Hamm go on rings, high bar and pommel horse, but he did portions of all six events, including the parallel bars, which is where he broke his right ring finger in the closing seconds of his routine at nationals.

MEMMEL, SACRAMONE, PESZEK MAKE U.S. TEAM

Now it's official: Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone and Samantha Peszek are going to Beijing. And they're bringing Bridget Sloan with them.

Considered all but locks after strong showings at last month's nationals and Olympic trials, Memmel, Peszek and Sacramone looked even better last night to earn spots on the U.S. women's gymnastics team. Sloan, the alternate on last year's world championship team, upgraded herself with an impressive performance at the two-day selection camp at New Waverly, Texas.

The four join Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, who secured spots with their 1-2 finish at trials, on the last U.S. team to be finalized.

Now it's on to Beijing, where the Americans will be favorites to add Olympic gold to the one they won at last year's world championships.

"We don't even want to be Olympians. We want to be Olympic champions," Peszek said, her nails painted gold.

Their biggest competition will come from the home team, China. World champs in 2006 and runners-up last year, the Chinese have made no secret that they desperately want to win gold at home. Romania, Russia and Australia also are expected to contend for a medal.

"I am very happy with this team. Very, very happy," national team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "We know we'll have obstacles we have to pass, because it's hard to fight with the home team. We have to choose the toughest team, because we need the toughest girls because it will not be an easy job."

Jana Bieger, Ivana Hong and Corrie Lothrop were named alternates.

Memmel, the 2005 world champion whose comeback from a devastating shoulder injury has been the feel-good story of the summer, and Peszek finished third and fourth at nationals and trials. Sacramone has been the Americans' backbone the last four years, one of the best in the world on floor and vault. Had the full Olympic team been named after trials, Karolyi said the three would have been on it.

"What I said at trials, that was the truth. They just needed to prove they are at the same level they were at," Karolyi said. "It's almost like we had one spot to fill."

DIVING

U.S. SYNCHRONIZED DUO LOSES APPEAL FOR BEIJING

Laura Wilkinson and her diving partner Jessica Livingston lost their appeal yesterday to compete in 10-meter synchronized platform diving in Beijing.

An arbitrator in Los Angeles ruled to keep 15-year-olds Haley Ishimatsu and Mary Beth Dunnichay as the synchro platform team for next month's games.

Wilkinson and Livingston had filed a complaint against USA Diving and the U.S. Olympic Committee asking to be placed on the team or have another competition to see if they or Ishimatsu and Dunnichay should compete in Beijing.

Details of Friday's confidential American Arbitration Association hearing were not disclosed, although USA Diving called the decision "a strong ruling."

"USA Diving is extremely pleased by the arbitrator's decision supporting our selection procedures, the process and the selectors' decision," USA Diving chief executive officer Debbie Hesse said in a statement yesterday. "We hope our athletes and coaches can move past this and form a strongly bonded team at the Olympic Games."

Telephone and e-mail messages left for Wilkinson by The Associated Press were not immediately returned yesterday.

In their complaint, attorneys for Wilkinson and Livingston said USA Diving's selection criteria was too broadly drawn to meet the standard required by the USOC for team selection proceedings.

The younger duo was named to the Olympic team after they split four rounds with Wilkinson and Livingston at a selection camp earlier this month in Knoxville, Tenn.

Wilkinson and Livingston had a higher average score for the four contests, 329.88 points to 327.32.

But Ishimatsu and Dunnichay were chosen because they had the best individual score (346.98) of the four rounds of dives and because they had a higher score under a formula known as "projected competition score," according to the complaint.

Wilkinson and Livingston said the committee violated its own procedures and the use of the projected competition score is less effective than the average score in making a selection.

Hesse said a final score was not the sole determining factor in selecting athletes to the team. Divers were evaluated on such factors as average scores, best list scores, projected competition scores, degree of difficulty and past performances.

Wilkinson and Livingston finished fourth in platform synchro at a World Cup meet in the Olympic pool earlier this year. Ishimatsu and Dunnichay were eighth at the same meet.

BASKETBALL

CROATIA, GREECE QUALIFY FOR BEIJING

Croatia overcame a 30-point, 13-rebound effort by Dirk Nowitzki to beat Germany, 76-70, yesterday at Athens, Greece, securing a berth in Beijing.

Greece also earned a spot in the tournament by beating Puerto Rico, 88-63. Germany and Puerto Rico will play for the 12th and final Olympic spot today.

Croatia, which qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 1996, held Nowitzki to only 10 shots but his aggressive drives allowed him to get to the foul line, where he went 19 of 21.

TENNIS

MURRAY BROTHERS WILL PLAY ON BRITISH TEAM

Ninth-ranked Andy Murray will represent Britain in singles tennis at next month's Olympic Games, his first, and partner brother Jamie in the doubles.

The Scots' inclusion was announced yesterday by the British Olympic Association.

"I am delighted to welcome Andy and Jamie into Team GB for their first Olympic Games," team head Simon Clegg said. "With Andy and Jamie we have one of the best chances of achieving in this event."