The International Gymnastics Federation is delighted to announce the names of its five Gymnastics Ambassadors for the World Championships which will take place in 2019.

Fabian Hambüchen

It was in Stuttgart in 2007 that he had his finest hour at World Championships with a silver medal in the All-Around, a Team bronze and, above all, a gold on the Horizontal Bar. Billed as the wunderkind of German gymnastics from a very early age, he collected a total of nine World Championship medals and two Olympic medals – the bronze in Beijing in 2008, and the silver in London in 2012, both on the Horizontal Bar – before finally achieving his ultimate goal of Olympic gold at his fourth and final Games in Rio in 2016.

Catalina Ponor

Her elegant style and longevity at the summit make her a 21st century icon of Romanian Gymnastics. At her first World Championships in 2003 in Anaheim, she picked up three silver medals – in the Balance Beam, Floor and Team competitions. The following year, silver became gold at the European Championships and, above all, in Athens where she collected a trio of Olympic crowns, in the same three finals. Several times she stepped away from her sport only to return, driven by the adrenaline rush of competition, to charm judges and public alike – as it was the case at the 2012 London Olympics where she won a Team bronze with Romania and the silver medal on Floor.