Gymnastics - Hambuechen underlines his Olympic potential

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By Pritha Sarkar

LAUSANNE (Reuters) - Germany's Fabian Hambuechen proved that he was no one hit wonder after he picked up a complete set of medals at the men's European gymnastics championships on Sunday.

Eight months after collecting a gold, silver and bronze at the world championships, he replicated the feat at the Europeans to underline his Olympic credentials.

"Last year I got the whole set at the worlds and this time I got the whole set in Europeans so I'm really happy about that. It's awesome," the 20-year-old told Reuters as he was surrounded by a posse of young autograph hunters.

"It would be nice to have whole set again (at the Beijing Olympics in August) but that will be very hard. I will do my best and hope to get a medal, which will be a dream."

A day after helping Germany to the silver medal in the team competition, the flamboyant gymnast picked up a bronze on the floor exercise before rounding off the competition with a victorious high flying routine on the horizontal bar.

His score of 16.025 allowed him to retain his bar title, ahead of former world champion Vlasios Maras, who won the silver with 15.850, and Aljaz Pegan of Slovenia.

Hambuechen saluted his vocal fans with a kiss before punching the air in delight.

RUSSIAN DISAPPOINTMENT

Russia had been expected to add another three gold medals to their team crown, as they had the top qualifiers for the floor exercise, pommel horse and parallel bars final.

They had to make do with just one as the six titles up for grabs on Sunday went to six different countries.

Anton Golotsutskov started the day promisingly for the Russians when he tumbled his way to the top of the podium by outclassing Romania's Razvan Dorin Selariu by 0.050 of a point on the floor exercise. Then it all went horribly wrong.

Favourite Nikolai Kryukov's chances of winning the pommel title vanished after he inexplicably lost his momentum and fell off the horse while swivelling over the apparatus. He was awarded 14.500 and finished seventh out of the eight finalists.

Hungary's Krisztian Berki capitalised on Kryukov's misfortune to defend his title with a score of 16.025. Croatians Filip Ude and Robert Seligman completed the top three.

Kryukov also had his eye on the parallel bars gold but failed to reproduce the routine that made him the top qualifier for the final and had to settle for bronze with 15.875.

Slovenia's Mitja Petkovsek executed a precise swinging routine to emerge triumphant on the apparatus with 16.025.

Yuri van Gelder made sure he did not suffer the same fate as Kryukov when he backed up his performance in qualifying by producing an even more impressive exhibition on the rings.

The Dutchman's display in the strongman's event drew a score of 16.500, giving him a second continental title on the apparatus following his success in 2005.

Former champion Jordan Jovtchev claimed the silver in his last appearance at a European championships.

The Bulgarian, who will retire after the Beijing Olympics in August, trailed Van Gelder by 0.300.

"I only performed at 90 percent of my potential. I tried some new moves but it didn't work out, so I think I deserved second place," Jovtchev told Reuters.

Poland's Leszek Blanik added the European title to the world crown he won in Stuttgart by winning the vault crown.

(Take a look at Countdown to Beijing Olympics blog at

http://blogs.reuters.com/china )

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