COLUMBUS, Ohio — Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm doesn't waste any time.

The gymnast is already three days ahead of schedule in his recovery, his surgeon said Thursday. Hamm was able to make a fist when his bandages were removed, just two days after surgery to repair the broken bone in his right hand.

"It was exciting from my standpoint. He had little to no swelling," said Dr. Lawrence Lubbers, the hand specialist treating Hamm. "Our goal was to make a full fist within five days and he was pretty much making a full fist today. That put us three days ahead of schedule, and it's only two days post-op."

Hamm broke the bone below the base of the ring finger in his right hand one week ago in the final seconds of his parallel bars routine at the U.S. championships. During surgery Tuesday, Lubbers inserted a plate and nine screws in the hand to repair the broken metacarpal.

Controlling swelling is the primary focus in the first few days after surgery because it can limit range of motion and delay recovery. Hamm is still wearing a compression glove, Lubbers said, and needs to keep his arm elevated.

"Everybody was worried it was going to look like a water balloon," Lubbers said, "but it looked very much like a normal hand."

To make the broken bone heal faster, Hamm is doing ultrasonic stimulation and is also wearing a custom-made splint. He began physical therapy Thursday, and Lubbers said he'll be able to return to the gym for conditioning work beginning Saturday.

Hamm is expected to be off the gymnastics equipment for at least four weeks, so keeping the rest of his body in shape is of utmost importance. There is a little more than 10 weeks before the men's competition starts in Beijing, and the better shape Hamm is in, the quicker his routines will come back once he resumes full training.

"He's almost to the point that he's feeling well enough that he might start doing too much and cause reactive swelling and set himself back," Lubbers said. "(So) we don't want him in the gym for long periods of time. It's hard to hold your hand up all day. If he was there for couple of hours, his hand gets tired."

So far, though, Hamm has been a model patient, Lubbers said.

"It's exciting to see how well his treatment has gone so far," Lubbers said. "We've accomplished an awful lot in two days."