The student pilot of the Cessna 172N departed and flew for approximately 1 hour before returning to find stronger, gusting winds. He initially intended to perform "some touch and go landings," but due to the wind conditions, the pilot opted to terminate the flight with a single, full stop landing. Due to the gusts, the pilot executed a go-around on his first approach. He used a reduced flap setting of 20 degrees for his second approach, and during the flare, a gust of wind caused the airplane to "balloon." The pilot attempted to recover by adding power, but the airplane "landed hard" nose gear first, bounced, and then landed normally. The pilot completed the rollout and taxied to the terminal without further incident. The pilot did not experience any preimpact failures or malfunctions with the airplane, and a postaccident examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the firewall. The weather observation at an airport 11 miles to the northeast, about the time of the accident, showed winds from 250 degrees, at 8 knots with gusts to 16 knots.