Record 6th Olympics in store for Bulgarian gymnast

At 39, Bulgaria's Jordan Jovtchev is close to becoming the first male gymnast to compete in six Olympic games as he prepares for London where he hopes to bring his medal-studded career to a memorable end. "This will be the last Olympics I go to, if all goes well. And whatever happens there, my participation is already a big success," Jovtchev told AFP between training bouts recently at a Sofia gymnasium. "Yet, I don't say: 'Four medals in five Olympics are already super, let's go do some sight-seeing in London'." "As every sportsman, I want to give a deserving performance and end my career in the best possible way and without regrets." "The question now is whether my physical fitness is still as big as my desire to win... It won't be easy," he chuckled while warming up. The greying gymnastics veteran, who has one Olympic silver and three bronzes, plus another 22 medals from World and European Championships, has been battling serious shoulder and biceps injuries on the road to London. This has compelled him to be very economical in training. But once up on the still rings, it seems neither age nor injuries can stop him as he deftly performs Iron, inverted and Maltese Cross figures with immaculate perfection and easy grace. This summer's Games will be his sixth successive Olympics after his debut in Barcelona in 1992 aged only 19. "If I'm healthy, and I want to be, I think I can still show something more." "The only thing that can stop me are the injuries. When you can't train at 100 percent and show your best results, then obviously it doesn't make sense to go on anymore." Jovtchev has qualified for all six gymnastics disciplines at the London Games but average performances will not do for this rings specialist and he already says he will not even waste his efforts on the floor exercise, his second-best discipline. "I'll only go for the rings in London and that's it," Jovtchev says after performing a series of complicated twists. "I don't think I stand a chance of doing anything more on any of the other (exercises) and that's why it's better to concentrate on the rings only." The extremely easy-going Jovtchev jokes between questions and makes faces while doing a couple of funny jumps on the trampoline. But he saddens instantaneously when the discussion turns to the 2004 Athens Olympics. A clear leader after a brilliant performance, he missed out on gold after the judges put him just 0.012 points behind Greece's local favourite Dimosthenis Tampakos. Bulgarian sports commentators still refer to the incident as "the theft of the century." "I was robbed. Definitely! Even the gymnast who won the gold knows it, as it was very clear, you could see it. I doubt if anyone thinks the opposite," says Jovtchev. "But things went this way, and unfortunately can't be brought back." "For me, it's becoming more and more difficult, or shall I say almost impossible, to win an Olympic gold title," he shrugs. Ever since the Athens Games, Jovtchev has been the single male Bulgarian gymnast to compete in the Olympics. Since 2009, he is also the only gymnastics federation president in the world to still compete and will lead the Bulgarian team to the 2012 European Championships in Montpellier, France in end-May. "I feel stronger when I do something for other people. I find additional motivation, additional strength then," says Jovtchev. "My participation also motivates the rest of the team... And if I manage a better placement in a competition this means more money for the federation, which more or less rests on my shoulders." Jovtchev's presence in the gym is indeed a huge incentive for a group of young gymnasts, who cast awe-filled looks. "You have good speed, don't change the position of your body, bend forward a bit and go. No one can stop you," Jovtchev tells a blushing 11-year-old, David, who performs double-leg clockwise swings on the pommel horse. "He's huge... I think he'll win a medal in London. He'll do just great," the boy says, promising to "keep even my toes crossed for him."