Paul Hamm made the history on Wednesday when he clinched the Olympic men's gymnastic all-around title for the United States in one hundred years.

From the records book, the last American all-around champion was Anton Heida in 1904.

Hamm, 22, the all-around titlist at 2003 Anaheim Worlds on home turf, collected 57.823 points, edging South Korean dark horse Kim Dae Eun to the second place with 57.811.

Hamm, who vowed to take his first Olympic gold in Athens and finished atop in the qualification, tumbled out of the mat and sat down after flying over the vault. The score of 9.137 made everybody think that his tour of the final was over.

However, he rallied in the following apparatus and completed a strong routine on his specialty of horizontal bar. His solid landing earned him 9.837 points to seal his victory.

The American gymnast confessed that when he commited the big error on vault, he talked with his coach about maybe only getting a bronze.

However, his coach Miles Avery said firmly "No way."

"Then I concentrated on the parallel bars and high bar. I told myself to just go ahead," Hamm said.

Avery explained after the final that errors in the competitions are not the end of the day. "What you must do is to keep fighting,keep going. And Hamm made it today."

Another South Korean gymnast Yang Tae-young, who entered top three in neither the Worlds nor Olympics, took the bronze with 57.774 points.

Chinese lone all-around gymnast Yang Wei, runner-up of the event at Sydney Olympics and 2003 Anaheim Worlds, finished only seventh with 57.361 points. He slipped to the floor from the horizontal bar, which earned him only 8.987.

Yang said that "I even don't know how that error occurred. I have to rethink about it later. But the spirit of our whole team still exists. That is the most important thing."

Results of men's gym individual all-round final

1. Paul Hamm, United States, 57.823 points

2. Kim Dae Eun, South Korea, 57.811

3. Yang Tae-young, South Korea, 57.774

4. Silviu Suciu, Romania, 57.648

5. Rafael Martinez, Spain, 57.549

6. Hiroyuki Tomita, Japan, 57.485

7. Yang Wei, China, 57.361

8. Marian Dragulescu, Romania, 57.323