Mitja Petkovšek
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Mitja Petkovšek (born 6 February 1977) is a
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
n former artistic gymnast. He was a specialist on the
parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars approximately long and positioned at above the floor. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally wear ...
and won two World titles on that apparatus (
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
,
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
). He is also a four-time European parallel bars champion (
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
). He won a total of 12 World and European medals. He competed at the
2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
and
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
.


Gymnastics career

Petkovšek began gymnastics when he was six years old.


1997–2000

Petkovšek competed at his first World Championships in
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
and finished 29th in the all-around final. He also qualified for the parallel bars final and finished fifth. He won his first European medal in
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
when he finished second to Russia's Alexei Bondarenko on the parallel bars. He then won a parallel bars bronze medal at the 1998 Vancouver World Cup. Petkovšek won the parallel bars titles at both the 2000 Glasgow and Ljubljana World Cups. He also won the parallel bars title at the 2000 European Championships with a score of 9.800. He represented Slovenia at the 2000 Summer Olympics and was favored to win a medal, but he fell off the parallel bars in the qualification round and did not advance to the final.


2001–2004

Petkovšek won the parallel bars bronze medal at the 2001 Mediterranean Games. He also won the bronze medal at the 2001 Cottbus World Cup. At the 2002 European Championships, he won the parallel bars silver medal behind Greece's Vasileios Tsolakidis. Then at the 2002 World Championships, he won the silver medal behind China's Li Xiaopeng. Petkovšek won gold medals at the 2003 Paris, Glasgow, and Stuttgart World Cups. He advanced to the parallel bars final at the 2003 World Championships and finished eighth. He finished fifth at the 2004 European Championships after a mistake that lowered his start-value to a 9.800.


2005–2007

At the 2005 European Championships, Petkovšek won the parallel bars bronze medal behind Manuel Carballo and
Yann Cucherat Yann Cucherat (born 2 October 1979) is a French gymnast. He won a bronze medal in parallel bars at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, ...
despite competing with an arm injury. He then won the gold medal at the 2005 Mediterranean Games. He won the gold medal on the parallel bars at the 2005 World Championships with a score of 9.700. The same day,
Aljaž Pegan Aljaž Pegan (born 2 June 1974) is a Slovenian former artistic gymnast. He was primarily a horizontal bar specialist and won gold at the 2005 World Championships. He is also a three-time World silver medalist (2002, 2006, 2007) and the 2004 Eu ...
won the gold medal on the horizontal bar, and they became the first Slovenian World champions in gymnastics since Miroslav Cerar won the pommel horse title in 1970. Petkovšek won the parallel bars title at the 2006 European Championships with a score of 16.025 under the new scoring system. He successfully defended his title at the 2007 European Championships. He then tied with South Korea's Kim Dae-eun for the title at the 2007 World Championships. His World title also earned him a berth for the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
.


2008–2012

Petkovšek won the parallel bars European title for the third year in a row. He then represented Slovenia at the 2008 Summer Olympics and finished fifth in the parallel bars final after wobbling on two handstands. At the 2009 European Championships, he won the silver medal on the parallel bars behind France's
Yann Cucherat Yann Cucherat (born 2 October 1979) is a French gymnast. He won a bronze medal in parallel bars at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, ...
by 0.025 points. He competed at the 2009 World Championships but did not advance to the final. He also did not advance to the final at the 2010 World Championships. Petkovšek qualified for the parallel bars final at the 2011 European Championships but fell and finished eighth. He won the gold medal at the 2012 Osijek World Challenge Cup. Then at the 2012 European Championships, he won the bronze medal behind Marcel Nguyen and
Oleg Verniaiev Oleg Yuriyovych Verniaiev (; born 29 September 1993) is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast. He is the 2016 Olympic parallel bars champion and individual all-around silver medalist. Verniaiev is also the 2014 World parallel bars champion, the 201 ...
.


2013–2015

Petkovšek finished 13th in the qualification round at the 2013 World Championships, making him the second reserve for the final. He won the parallel bars bronze medal at the 2014 Cottbus World Cup. He then fell and finished seventh at the 2014 European Championships. Petkovšek withdrew from the 2015 European Championships due to a back injury. He announced his retirement in October 2015 at the age of 38.


Personal life

Petkovšek is married to Mojca Rode, a Slovenian rhythmic gymnast. They have two daughters together, named Gaja and Asja.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petkovsek, Mitja 1977 births Living people Slovenian male artistic gymnasts World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic gymnasts for Slovenia Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Gymnasts from Ljubljana Summer World University Games medalists in gymnastics Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Slovenia Mediterranean Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 2005 Mediterranean Games FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Slovenia Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade European champions in gymnastics