Greek Olympic Champion Lefteris Petrounias made all Greeks in Australia proud after winning gold medal at the World Cup Gymnastics 2020 event, held in Melbourne tonight.
With a score of 15.066 in the still rings the Olympic gymnastics champion left Iran’s Mahdi Kohani and Egypt’s Ali Zahran behind, and is now a step closer towards his qualification for the Tokyo Olympics later in the year.
Petrounias, who couldn’t hold back the tears when the Greek National Anthem came on during the awards ceremony, dedicated his victory to his baby daughter and all the Greek Australians that cheered him on this week in Melbourne.
He also announced that all profits from his prize money will be donated to assist the bushfire victims in Australia.
President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos congratulated Greece’s very own ‘Lord of the Rings’ for his victory and wished him all the best for the Tokyo Olympics.
The 29-year-old gymnast is currently the 2016 Olympic champion, as well as the World Champion in 2018, 2017 and 2015, and a five-time European medalist on the still rings.
Petrounias will compete in Baku (12-15/3) and Doha (18-21/3).
He needs to win in Baku, Azerbaijan and Doha in Qatar in March in order to be able to travel to Japan as part of the Greek national Olympic team.
Melbourne World Cup Rings Final:
Eleftherios Petrounias GRE 15.066
Mahdi Ahmad Kohani IRI 14.5
B Ali Zahran EGY 14.266
Ng Kiu Chung HKG 14.066
Courtney Tulloch GBR 13.766
Rick Jacobs NED 13.266
Devy Dyson NZL 13.166
Hamza Yilmaz TUR 12.7