When Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen made his Olympic debut in Athens, the 16-year-old looked like a blonde Harry Potter with his signature round eyeglasses. Hambuechen finished seventh in the horizontal bar final in Athens. In Beijing, he won silver and in London, he moved up to gold.
Hambuechen’s long and high-flying career finally led him to a gold medal in Rio. He had the one of the most difficult routines in the final and scored 15.766 to finish first.
Last up in the final was Danell Leyva, who withstood the pressure to put up a score of 15.500 and finish second. He earned parallel bars silver less than two hours earlier.
In bronze medal position was Nile Wilson of Great Britain. This was the first high bar medal for a British gymnast.
Just off the podium was U.S.’ Sam Mikulak. He performed one of his best high bar routines ever, complete with a stuck landing, to finish fourth.
Final rankings:
1. Fabian Hambuechen: 15.766
2. Danell Leyva: 15.500
3. Nile Wilson:15.466
4. Sam Mikulak: 15.400
5. Fracisco Barretto, Jr.: 15.208
6. Manrique Larduet: 15.033
7. Epke Zonderland: 14.033
8. Oleg Verniaiev: 13.366
Watch today’s episode of The Daily Dismount, hosted by Tanith White. Olympic gymnasts Courtney Kupets Carter and Jonathan Horton will recap and analyze all of today’s gymnastics competition.