.jpg) Hambüchen in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1987-10-25)25 October 1987 (age 38) Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Men's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | TSG Niedergirmes, Wetzlar; KTV Straubenhardt, Straubenhardt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach | Wolfgang Hambüchen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Fabian Hambüchen (also spelledHambuechen;German pronunciation:[ˈfaːbi̯aːnˈhamˌbyːçn̩]ⓘ; born 25 October 1987) is a retiredGermangymnast who was anOlympic champion onhorizontal bar inRio 2016, World champion inStuttgart 2007 on the same apparatus, as well as six times European champion on various other occasions and on different apparatus, including high bar, his most successful discipline. Apart from that, Fabian also won gold medals atEuropean Games and at2015 Summer Universiade. He has a full set of Olympics medals, one in each color, as he is the2016 Olympic champion,2012 Olympic silver medalist and2008 Olympic bronze medalist on the individualhorizontal bar event.[1] Since the end of his active career, he has appeared in various television productions and advertising partnerships.
Hambüchen was born on 25 October 1987 as the second child of Beate Hambüchen and the gymnastics coachWolfgang Hambüchen [de] inBergisch Gladbach inWest-Germany. His ancestors were the paintersGeorg [de] andWilhelm Hambüchen [de] while his cousin is the famous German publicist and lawyerUlrich Hambüchen [de]. Shortly after his birth, his family moved toWetzlar. Fabian attended the Goetheschule Wetzlar until hisabitur in 2007. Alongside his education he was coached by his father.[2] In October 2012, he began studying sports management and communication at theGerman Sport University Cologne.[3] After completing his basic studies, Hambüchen decided in 2015 to change his course of study to sport and performance,[4][5] graduating in 2020.
Hambüchen's first major senior competition was the2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim. He competed 4 events in qualifications but the German team did not advance to the team final.
Hambüchen was the youngest German athlete at the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens where the German team placed 8th in the team event final. Individually, Hambüchen finished 23rd in the all-around and 7th in the horizontal bar individual event finals.
in 2005, Hambüchen won the horizontal bar title at the2005 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. At the2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hambüchen competed 3 events in qualifications and placed 4th in the horizontal bar individual event finals.
Hambüchen competed at the2006 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships where the German team placed 7th. Individually,2005 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships placed 5th in the vault and 7th in the parallel bars individual event finals.
At the2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hambüchen won his first World Championship medal at the age of 18 with bronze in the all-around individual event final. He also won a bronze on vault despite having the lowest combined difficulty in the individual event final. The German team placed 7th in the team event final, with Hambüchen contributing scores on 5 events. However, Hambüchen did not qualify for the horizontal bar individual event final.
In 2007, Hambüchen competed at the2007 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships where he won the silver medal in the all-around and won the horizontal bar individual event title, the latter for the second time.
The2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held inStuttgart and the German team won the bronze medal in front of the home crowd, with Hambüchen contributing on 4 events. Individually, Hambüchen won the silver medal in the all-around individual event behind reigning world championYang Wei. He then won the gold medal in the horizontal bar individual event final, becoming world champion on that event. In the vault individual event final, he placed 5th.
In 2007, he was named theGerman Sportspersonality of the Year.
At the2008 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships the German team won the silver medal, with Hambüchen contributing on 5 events. He qualified for 4 individual event finals, winning the bronze medal on floor, placing 5th on both vault and parallel bars, and defending his European title on the horizontal bar, making it his second consecutive European title on that event and third overall.
Going into the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing, Hambüchen was considered the favourite for the horizontal bar title and a strong contender for an all-around medal. He qualified to 4 individual event finals including second into the all-around and was the top qualifier for the horizontal bar. The German team placed 4th in the team event final, with Hambüchen contributing scores on 5 events. However, in the all-around individual event final, Hambüchen fell on the horizontal bar and placed 7th. He then placed 4th in the floor and parallel bars individual event finals. He then won his first Olympic Medal with a bronze in the horizontal bar individual event final.
At the2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hambüchen won the individual all-around title and the floor title. He also placed 7th in the vault and won the bronze medal in parallel bars individual event finals. He did not qualify for the high bar individual event final. Hambüchen had to pull out of the2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships due to an injury to his foot. He was considered a frontrunner for the all-around and horizontal bar titles.[6]
At the2010 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hambüchen contributed scores on 5 events towards the German team winning the European title. Individually, he placed 8th in the rings individual event final, and tied for the bronze medal with his teammatePhilipp Boy in the horizontal bar individual event final. At the2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hambüchen did not compete in the all-around due to an injured Achilles tendon, but he contributed scores on 3 events to the German team's bronze medal. He also qualified to the parallel bars individual event final, placing 4th, and the horizontal bar individual event fina where he won the bronze medal.
In January 2011, Hambüchen tore his Achilles tendon, which kept him out of competition at the2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Berlin. He recovered in time for the2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships where he once again contributed scores on 5 events in the team event final, and Germany finished 5th. He competed all 6 events in qualifications but did not advance to the all-around individual event final due to the rule that only 2 gymnasts from each country can advance to an individual event final, asPhilipp Boy andMarcel Nguyen both qualified ahead of Hambüchen. He qualified to the horizontal bar individual event final where he placed 4th.
In 2012, Hambüchen once again missed the European Championships, as he wanted to focus on preparation for the Olympics. At the2012 Summer Olympics inLondon, he qualified 3rd into the all-round and 4th into the horizontal bar individual event final. He contributed scores on 5 events to the German team's 7th-place finish. However, he had multiple large mistakes in the all-around individual event final, once again including a fall from the horizontal bar, finishing in 15th place. In the horizontal bar individual event final, he won his second Olympic medal, winning the silver behindEpke Zonderland of theNetherlands.
At the2013 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hambüchen qualified to the horizontal bar individual event final but placed 6th after a fall. In July, he compete at the2013 Summer Universiade where the German team placed 4th. Hambüchen won the silver medal in the all-around behind RussianNikolai Kuksenkov, beating 2013 European ChampionDavid Belyavskiy. He also won silver in the floor individual event final behind Japan'sRyohei Kato. He competed at the2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships where he won the bronze medal in the all-around individual event final. He also finished in 7th place in the floor and won a silver medal in the horizontal bar individual event finals, once again in a close battle behindZonderland.
At the2014 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships the German team finished in 4th, with Hambüchen once again contributing scores on 5 events to the team total. He qualified in second to the horizontal bar individual event final, but had a bad fall during the final and did not finish his routine, ending up in 8th place. At the2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, the German team finished in 8th place. Hambüchen also finished in 8th place in the all-around individual event final but did not qualify to the horizontal bar individual event final after falling in qualifications.
Hambüchen did not compete in the2015 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In June, he competed at the2015 European Games where he finished 5th in the all-around and won the gold medal on the horizontal bar individual event finals. In July, he competed at the2015 Summer Universiade where he won the gold medal on the horizontal bar individual event final. At the2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships the German team did not qualify for the team final, and therefore missed automatic qualification for the2016 Summer Olympics. Hambüchen qualified to the all-around individual event final in 27th place but withdrew due to illness. He also qualified to the horizontal bar individual event final in 4th place, but finished in 7th after executing a poor routine.
Hambüchen was unable to compete for the first half of 2016 due to a shoulder injury. He was unable to compete in the Olympic test event where the German team secured their place for the2016 Rio Olympics. Hambüchen returned to competition on three events (floor, vault and the horizontal bar) at the German Olympic trials. At the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, the German team placed seventh in the team final, with Hambüchen contributing on 3 events. He qualified in 1st place for the horizontal bar individual event final where he won his third Olympic medal and first Olympic gold, becoming the Olympic horizontal bar champion. With an Olympic gold medal in 2016, Hambüchen has completed the full collection set of horizontal bar medals in each colour at separate Olympics, improving his standings every subsequent four years from a bronze medal at the2008 Beijing Olympics, then a silver medal at the2012 London Olympics, and finally to the gold medal at the2016 Rio Olympics.
Hambüchen retired after the2016 Rio Olympics, stating that his Olympic title was "a dream come true".[7] He was inducted into theInternational Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2022.[8]
In 2010 he published his autobiographyFabian Hambüchen – Die Autobiografie. Outside of his active career, Hambüchen has appeared in variousgame shows and as an expert intalk shows. Since the end of his active career, he has worked as a gymnastics expert for theARD. He accompanied the coverage of thePyeongchang 2018 andBeijing 2022 Winter Olympics as well as theTokyo 2020 Olympics as an expert, reporter and presenter forEurosport. In addition, he actively tried out numerous Olympic sports himself, such ascanoe slalom, in the TV seriesHambüchen Challenge. He collaboreates together with the HessianMinistry of Education and Cultural Affairs as an advocate foradult literacy education and is called the "Hessen'sambassador for literacy".[9]
In July 2022, he married fitness trainer Viktoria Diesterbeck, whom he met in 2020.[10][11] He currently lives inWetzlar. Because of his short height he has been nicknamed "Turnfloh" (meaning "gymnastics flea").
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| Preceded by | German Sportsman of the Year 2007 2016 | Succeeded by |
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