Morgan Hamm

CHICAGO (AP) -- Taylor Phinney remembers watching the 2004 Olympics and spotting gymnasts Paul and Morgan Hamm.

"I was like, 'Oh, they have red hair, and they're from Wisconsin,'" Phinney said Monday. "'That's interesting.'"

Little did he know.

Turns out, the cycling phenom and two of the world's best gymnasts have a bit more in common than their Olympic ambitions. Like their family tree.

Though the three met for the first time Monday at the U.S. Olympic Committee summit, they're related. And not in that "83rd cousin of an aunt twice removed" way that Barack Obama and Brad Pitt are related.

Phinney's great-great-grandfather on his mother's side, Russell Carpenter, and the Hamms' great-grandfather on their mother's side, Elbert Carpenter, were brothers, revealed Connie Carpenter-Phinney, herself a 1984 gold medalist in cycling.

Which makes the three Beijing hopefuls cousins, even if it's a bit on the distant side.

Yeah, some pretty good genes in that family.

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Paul and Morgan Hamm were featured in an article that ran in today's issue of USA Today. (read more)

Paul and Morgan Hamm have just announced their intentions to train and attempt to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games! "Being on two U.S. Olympic teams isn't enough for gymnasts Paul and Morgan Hamm, " writes Jill Lieber Steeg of USA TODAY.

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