since 1991—was in position to claim the silver.
Hambüchen had opened his challenge with a
sensational floor routine that began with a layout
double-double, which replaced his Lou Yun mount
from 2006. Then he squeezed through pommels
with a 14.225, only to swing right past a back
uprise to inverted cross on rings. A 14.350 there
figured to douse his hopes of a medal, but the
hopelessly upbeat German continued to plug away.
He almost stuck his Yurchenko- 21⁄
2, then nailed a
double pike after a p-bar set that included a peach-half, peach, Wells to Belle, a Morisue, and one of
the best Tippelts of the field.
With his best event standing between him and
the silver, Hambüchen actually had to compete
sooner than expected. “When I got to high bar, my
father said, ‘You are second (up),’ meaning
[Devyatovsky] pulled out. My father said, ‘Full speed
ahead.’”
What a difference a year makes. Hambüchen
calmly caught the Kolman that had eluded him in
Aarhus, then thrilled the crowd even more with a
Takemoto to Yamawaki (layout Voronin). After
catching a layout Tkatchev to Tkatchev, Hambüchen nearly stuck his layout double-double for a
