Hambuechen switches his focus to Olympics

By Pritha Sarkar

LAUSANNE (Reuters) - Four years after turning up at the Athens Games as a precocious bespectacled teenager, Fabian Hambuechen has now set his sights on Olympic glory.

In Greece, the German gymnast had turned heads -- but rather than the gravity defying routines that has now become his signature, it was his glasses that got him the attention.

People were more interested in knowing how he managed to keep he spectacles on while he performed his high flying routines on the horizontal bar.

The glasses are now long gone -- replaced by more practical contact lenses -- and the focus is now firmly on his talent.

"I've grown up. There is more attention on me now but for me nothing really has changed over the past four years," the 20-year-old told Reuters in an interview.

"I still train at home, still have my father as my coach and I finished high school last year. Next year I want to start studying again but everything else is just like before."

But not everything is like before.

On Sunday he captured his third European title on the bar, and with the world gold medal also in his possession, he will be carrying the hopes of Germany on his muscular shoulders.