ATHENS - Blaine Wilson wound up the first day of his last Olympics feeling dizzy and nursing a giant headache. It got so bad, he needed smelling salts to finish the meet.
The top American of the past decade has been through worse, though, and after qualifying rounds Saturday, there's a growing sense that all the pain might be worth it.
Wilson, world all-around champion Paul Hamm and the rest of the Americans performed solidly, scoring 230.419 points to finish second, 1.715 points behind Japan, and advance to Monday's team final. Romania finished third, and defending Olympic and world champion China was fourth.
Ukraine, Russia, Korea and Germany also qualified. Saturday's scores do not carry over.
China did routines that showed it was saving itself for Monday. But coach Huang Yubin wasn't pleased. "Today was not a good day for China," he said as he hurried his team out of the arena.
The Americans are seeking their first team medal since the boycotted 1984 Games. They have been building toward it since their fifth-place finish in Sydney in 2000. "With a few adjustments on a couple of events, I think we'll be able to accomplish things," coach Kevin Mazeika said.
Hamm led the way with four scores better than 9.7 and the best individual score, 58.061 points, to earn a spot in the all-around final. The Americans didn't count a score lower than a 9.212, and they botched just two of 30 routines.
The biggest mishap came on the high bar when Wilson flew backward and failed to grip the bar as he came down. The back of his head slammed hard on the mat. He scored 8.862. Doctors cleared him to continue, and he competed in the next event, floor exercise, because he knew the team needed his score. He earned 9.7.
Wilson said he couldn't remember much else from immediately before or after the fall. "Put it this way," he said, "when you want to puke, it's not good." But he said he was fine.
Wilson fell on a move he added after judges told U.S. officials Wednesday that a move he, Jason Gatson and Brett McClure were doing, a Stalder Hop Full, wasn't worth as much as it had been at last year's worlds. Wilson and Gatson decided to replace it with moves they've done before that are supposedly less risky. But that gave them only two days to polish their routines.
Wilson didn't advance to any event final. Hamm also will compete in the floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar finals, giving him a chance at six medals.
