Lefteris Petrounias: European Champion on rings for the 8th time

In Leipzig, Lefteris Petrounias added another gold medal to his collection, setting an impressive new record as he was crowned European Champion on the rings for the eighth time. This achievement makes him the only gymnast in the history of the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships to have earned ten medals on the same apparatus!

At the inaugural major event of the 2025–2028 Olympic cycle, Petrounias showcased a new routine aligned with the updated Code of Points. Competing third among eight finalists, he scored 14.400 points (difficulty: 5.700, execution: 8.700), securing victory even with a minor misstep during his dismount that impacted his score.

Sharing the gold medal with Petrounias was Adem Asil, a Turkish gymnast of Egyptian descent, who also achieved a score of 14.400 with identical difficulty and execution scores. The bronze medal went to Armenia’s Artur Avetisyan, who scored 14.366, in what proved to be a highly competitive final, with only 0.067 points between 1st and 6th places.

The Greek superstar, who topped the qualification round on May 27 with a score of 14.700, now boasts eight European titles, having previously won in Montpellier (2015), Bern (2016), Cluj (2017), Glasgow (2018), Basel (2021), Munich (2022), and Rimini (2024). His accolades also include two bronze medals from Berlin (2011) and Antalya (2023).

With this latest triumph, Petrounias stands as the sole gymnast with eight gold medals and is the first athlete in the 70-year history of the event (since 1955) to surpass ten medals on a single apparatus. His tenth European medal on the rings puts him ahead of Hungary’s Krisztián Berki, who earned nine medals on the pommel horse between 2004 and 2017 (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), and Slovenia’s Mitja Petkovšek, who also achieved nine on the parallel bars from 1998 to 2012 (4–3–2). Another Greek champion, Vlasis Maras, follows closely with eight medals on the horizontal bar from 2002 to 2015 (5–1–2).

The 34-year-old “Lord of the Rings” now holds thirteen gold medals in major competitions, including three World Championships (2015, 2017, 2018), the 2015 European Games, and of course, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.