Yordan Yovchev

Yordan Yovchev
Country represented	Bulgaria
Born	February 24, 1973 (1973-02-24) Plovdiv
Height	5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Medal record Olympic Games Silver 2004 Athens Rings Bronze 2000 Sydney Floor exercise Bronze 2000 Sydney Rings Bronze 2004 Athens Floor exercise World Championships Gold 2001 Ghent Floor Gold 2001 Ghent Rings Gold 2003 Anaheim Floor Gold 2003 Anaheim Rings Silver 1996 San Juan Rings Silver 2002 Debrecen Floor Silver 2002 Debrecen Rings Silver 2006 Aarhus Rings Silver 2009 London Rings Bronze 1995 Sabae Rings Bronze 1999 Tianjin All Around Bronze 2001 Ghent All Around Bronze 2007 Stuttgart Rings European Championships Gold 2002 Patras Rings Silver 2002 Patras All Around Silver 2002 Patras Floor Silver 2004 Ljubljana Floor Silver 2006 Volos Rings Silver 2007 Amsterdam Rings Silver 2008 Lausanne Rings Bronze 2009 Milan Rings Bronze 2010 Birmingham Rings

Yordan Yovchev Yovchev (Bulgarian: Йордан Йовчев Йовчев) (born February 24, 1973), is a Bulgarian gymnast.

Yovchev was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He won silver in the men's rings at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with a score of 9.850. In the same Olympic Games, Yovchev won bronze in the men's floor exercise with a score of 9.775. In the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he won the bronze on both floor exercise and still rings with 9.787 and 9.762 respectively. He also won two World Championship Bronze medals in the all around (1999, 2001).

Yovchev made his fifth Olympic team for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and qualified again for the Rings exercise. He qualified second with a score of 16.275 under the new scoring system, but missed a handstand and finished the final in last place with a score of 15.525.

He has competed in many SASUKE tournaments, reaching the final stage in the 8th competition; he did not pass the spider climb in the first 15 seconds, so the walls spread apart and he fell. He is the only competitor to not pass the spider climb in this version of the final stage, other than Shingo Yamamoto who did not complete it due to injury, but his early failure could be attributed to the heavy rain during the entire competition. Since then he has not passed the third stage.

He, Krasimir Dunev, and Ivan Ivanov moved to the United States after the 1996 Summer Olympics, staying in Detroit, Michigan as they wanted to compete professionally in the US.

He coached and trained in Norman, Okla., and Houston, Texas, before moving back to Bulgaria in 2007. He and his wife, Boriana, have a son, Yordan, Jr.

In 2009, he was elected president of the Bulgarian Gymnastics Federation.

Yordan Yovchev is qualified to participate in the 2012 Olympics in London, which will be his 6th appearance in the Olympic Games, a record for gymnast.

Results on SASUKE

• 8th competition (59): Failed Spider Climb - Final Stage
• 12th competition (99): Failed Cliff Hanger - Third Stage
• 14th competition (91): Failed Cliff Hanger - Third Stage
• 15th competition (97): Failed Warped Wall - First Stage
• 16th competition (95): Failed Cliff Hanger - Third Stage
• 20th competition (1993)*: Failed Warped Wall - First Stage
• 23rd competition (79): Failed Rope Ladder - First Stage

• *In the 20th competition, the numbering system for the contestants ran from 1901-2000 to indicate that 2000 competitors have attempted SASUKE. Instead of being number 93, Yovchev's number was 1993.

External links

• Profile at Sports-Reference.com
• Yordan Yovchev at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique