Hambuechen sets bar high for Beijing

By Sonia Oxley

LONDON (Reuters) - Fabian Hambuechen has one gold medal missing from his horizontal bar collection and he is determined to pick it up at the Beijing Olympics.

The 20-year-old German, European and world champion on the apparatus has set himself clear goals for the Games.

"I now have a good feeling about the Olympics. I want to reach the team final, all-round final and obviously I want a gold on the bar," he told Reuters after scooping three medals at the European championships in May.

Nicknamed "Turnfloh" (gymnast flea), the 1.63-metre Hambuechen gave the home crowd plenty to cheer in Stuttgart last year when he won a medal of each color at the worlds.

A team bronze and a silver in the all-round, as well as the bar success, highlighted his transformation from the talented teenager who was still finding his feet at the 2004 Athens Olympics to a serious contender in 2008.

In the past four years, Hambuechen has ditched his glasses in favor of contact lenses and his gravity-defying routines have built a medal collection including three European golds.

He is favorite for the horizontal bar title and could even push China's hotly tipped Yang Wei in the all-round competition.

Voted German sportsman of the year in 2007, Hambuechen has become something of a pin-up with his blonde hair and cheeky smile if the number of websites offering topless photos of him are anything to go by.