Jordan Jovtchev

Infobox Gymnast
gymnastname= Jordan Jovtchev


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country= BUL
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birthdate= birth date and age|1973|2|24
birthplace= Plovdiv
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height= 5 feet 7 inches
discipline= MAG
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Jordan Jovtchev ( _bg. Йордан Йовчев) (born February 24, 1973 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian gymnast. He lives and trains in Houston, Texas, relocating there after the 2000 Summer Olympics.

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, Jovtchev 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).

Jovtchev 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 intends to retire after the competition.

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 tore up their return tickets to Bulgaria prior to traveling to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics, staying in Detroit, Michigan with Bulgarian friends because they wanted better living contitions. However, he traveled back to his home country for his wedding in 1997. He and his wife, Boriana, have a seven year old son, Jordan, Jr.

External links

* [http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=811/bio/index.html Jordan Jovtchev NBC Olympics Athlete page]