Yuri van Gelder Biography
Yuri van Gelder (born 20 April 1983) is a Dutch gymnast, whose best discipline is the rings. His nickname is "Lord of the Rings".
Career
Born in Waalwijk, Netherlands, Van Gelder took the gold in the men's rings at the 2005 European Championships held in Debrecen, Hungary. He became world champion in the same discipline at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne, Australia. He won bronze at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. At the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, he won a silver medal.
Suspension
On 13 July 2009 he revealed that he used cocaine three days before the Dutch championships in Rotterdam. Van Gelder said he very much regretted his "lapse" and called himself "incredibly stupid". He has since had to return his national championship gold medal, and was suspended by the Dutch Gymnastics Union. IOC regulations implied that because of the suspension he would not be admitted to the Olympic Games in 2012. He was also fired from his job with the Dutch military, as they have a 'zero tolerance' drugs policy.
He was pulled out of the 2010 Worlds a few days before start, with the team citing personal medical reasons and refusing to answer questions about drugs.
In 2011, there was an appeal, by LaShawn Merritt, at the CAS against the general rule that after a suspension the athlete is not allowed to participate in the next Olympic Games. The appeal was granted and thereby Van Gelder still had a chance to qualify. For this, he had to achieve a good result at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, but he was unsuccessful.
2016 Olympic Games
Van Gelder performing at the Olympics in the qualificationAt the 2016 Summer Olympics, he reached the finals on rings. On 8 August 2016 (one week before the finals), he was dismissed from the Dutch team as a disciplinary measure, because against team rules he had not returned to the Olympic Village until early the next morning after consuming alcohol off-premises. As a variation on his nickname "lord of the rings", the Dutch media immediately referred to Van Gelder as "lord of the drinks". A request of a preliminary injunction requiring that the National Olympic Committee would attempt to reinstate Van Gelder's position in the finals was rejected.
References
External links
- Official website
- Yuri van Gelder at the International Gymnastics Federation
- Yuri van Gelder at Olympedia
- Yuri van Gelder at Olympics.com
- Yuri van Gelder at TeamNL (archive) (in Dutch)
- 1955: :Albert Azaryan:(URS)
- 1957: :Joaquín Blume:(ESP)
- 1957: :Yuri *ov:(URS)
- 1959: :Yuri *ov:(URS)
- 1961: :Miroslav Cerar:(YUG)
- 1961: :Velik Kapsazov:(BUL)
- 1961: :Yuri *ov:(URS)
- 1963: :Miroslav Cerar:(YUG)
- 1963: :Boris Shakhlin:(URS)
- 1963: :Velik Kapsazov:(BUL)
- 1965: :Viktor Lisitsky:(URS)
- 1965: :Franco Menichelli:(ITA)
- 1967: :Mikhail Voronin:(URS)
- 1967: :Viktor Lisitsky:(URS)
- 1969: :Mikhail Voronin:(URS)
- 1971: :Mikhail Voronin:(URS)
- 1973: :Viktor Klimenko:(URS)
- 1975: :Dan Grecu:(ROM)
- 1977: :Vladimir Markelov:(URS)
- 1979: :Alexander Dityatin:(URS)
- 1981: :Yuri Korolyov:(URS)
- 1983: :Dmitry Bilozerchev:(URS)
- 1983: :Plamen Petkov:(BUL)
- 1985: :Dmitry Bilozerchev:(URS)
- 1987: :Valentin Mogilny:(URS)
- 1989: :Holger Behrendt:(GDR)
- 1990: :Jury Chechi:(ITA)
- 1992: :Jury Chechi:(ITA)
- 1994: :Jury Chechi:(ITA)
- 1996: :Jury Chechi:(ITA)
- 1998: :Szilveszter Csollány:(HUN)
- 2000: :Dimosthenis Tampakos:(GRE)
- 2002: :Yordan Yovchev:(BUL)
- 2004: :Dimosthenis Tampakos:(GRE)
- 2004: :Aleksandr Safoshkin:(RUS)
- 2005: :Andrea Coppolino:(ITA)
- 2005: :Yuri van Gelder:(NED)
- 2006: :Aleksandr Safoshkin:(RUS)
- 2007: :Oleksandr Vorobiov:(UKR)
- 2008: :Yuri van Gelder:(NED)
- 2009: :Yuri van Gelder:(NED)
- 2010: :Matteo Morandi:(ITA)
- 2011: :Konstantin Pluzhnikov:(RUS)
- 2012: :Aleksandr Balandin:(RUS)
- 2013: :Samir Aït Saïd:(FRA)
- 2013: :Igor Radivilov:(UKR)
- 2014: :Denis Ablyazin:(RUS)
- 2014: :Aleksandr Balandin:(RUS)
- 2015: :Eleftherios Petrounias:(GRE)
- 2016: :Eleftherios Petrounias:(GRE)
- 2017: :Eleftherios Petrounias:(GRE)
- 2018: :Eleftherios Petrounias:(GRE)
- 2019: :Denis Ablyazin:(RUS)
- 2020: :İbrahim Çolak:(TUR)
- 2021: :Eleftherios Petrounias:(GRE)
- 2022: :Eleftherios Petrounias:(GRE)
- 2023: :Adem Asil:(TUR)