Finishing with a Boom

 GWANGJU – Gymnast Fabian Hambüchen finished his student-athlete career and the artistic gymnastics competition at the 2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade with a gold medal in his prime discipline, the horizontal bar. The sport management and communication student from the German Sport University Cologne placed himself in front of the two Japanese Shogo Nonomura and Yuya Kamoto.

“I didn’t put myself under pressure. I just wanted to have as much fun as possible in Gwangju, with the guys from my team and on my own. To go to two individual finals was perfect“, said the 27-year-old. In the floor exercise Hambüchen finished in fifth place, in the horizontal bar he managed to win his first Universiade gold after celebrating two silver medals in Russia two years ago. “This is definitely the completion of my student sports career. Gwangju was my last chance to participate because I turn 28 this year. It’s unbelievable that I was able to finish this way. It’s another big achievement for me and my career”, he explained.

At the beginning of the Universiade Hambüchen was selected as the ‘FISU Best Male Athlete’ at the FISU Gala and noticed the expectations coming with the award: “Of course you notice that people expect you to perform well after being given the prize. So I was glad that it all worked out in the qualification. The final is just no risk no fun, you can’t foresee it. I’m really honoured to have received that Award.”

For the German Olympian successful weeks come to an end with the games in Gwangju. Right before the Universiade he won a gold and a silver medal at the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan: “I’m speechless, this is unbelievable”, said Hambüchen and added: “Now I’m really looking forward to some time to relax.

At the Kwangju Women’s University Gymnasium the student-athlete was supported by many German delegation members including Head of Delegation Felix Arnold from the German University Sports Federation. “I’m thankful for the support. I will give it back to the other athletes when visiting as many events as possible tomorrow before departure”,he promised. But first there will be time to celebrate.

Max Länge (GER), FISU Young Reporter