The Wolfgang Hambüchen Interview | Episode 99

In this episode of the Sam Oldham Podcast, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview Wolfgang Hambüchen, the coach and father of the Rio 2016 Olympic High bar champion, Fabian Hambüchen. Wolfgang was a professional gymnast him self and during his career spent time in Japan studying and training.  In the 1970's the Japanese gymnastics team were the very best in the world producing legends such as Mitsuo Tsukahara and Sawao Kato. This influenced his gymnastics coaching philosophy and years later he encouraged Fabian to follow in his footsteps as young teenager and travel to Japan to train. Wolfgang moved to Wetzlar with his young family to become the head men's gymnastics coach in 1989 the year Fabian was born. Their incredible relationship is testament to Wolfgang's passion for gymnastics and determination to do the very best for his son Fabian. Who went on to become a superstar in Germany at the age of just sixteen and win a total of 23 Olympic, World and European medals throughout his career. It was a pleasure to spend time with them both in a recent trip to Fabian's childhood gymnastics club and thank you to Wolfgang for making us feel very welcome. This is his story.