Fabian Hambüchen

He seems to be Germany's answer to Tom Daley (for whom I was actually quietly rooting - until, despite having himself been badly bullied at school, he started having children arrested by the police for virtually no reason).

Fabian Hambüchen looks like he was the youngest and cheekiest member of Team Deutschland (or whatever the Kraut equivalent of Team GB was). He also seems to have been good at what he did.

The reason why I compared him with Tom Daley is that quickly browsing on Google Images I came across all sorts of photos of him as a kid alongside stories of his underage stardom, so presumably he was a real Wunderkind. And apparently there are now hundreds of sweet piccies of him out there, which will no doubt soon be deleted by anxious fans terrified of the paedo-crazies.

He actually has blond hair and green eyes. (See here for some close-up pics, from a guy apparently more interested in Hambüchen's contact lenses than in his athletic ability.) But with any luck, he's someone Germans will genuinely be able to feel proud of.

 Preparing

Celebrating

At London 2012 the other day

A hug for the coach

 And a very brotherly hug for Dutch rival and gold medalist Epke Zonderland. (Hambüchen won silver.)