The top Bulgarian gymnast, Yordan Yovchev, won two world titles last Saturday, just a day after taking the bronze medal in the all around at the World Sports Gymnastics tournament in Ghent, Belgium.

The 28-year-old sportsman from Plovdiv, who has been living and training in the U.S. for the last five years, became the first Bulgarian to win gold at a world championship in men's gymnastics.

Finishing in front of Yovchev in the all around on Friday were China's Fun Dzin and Ivan Ivankov from Belarus. The differences in the evaluations of the three were minute, an indication of the level of competition.

Yovchev, who was a double medallist in Sydney 2000, excelled the next day, however, and captured the first world gold of his career at the final for the floor competition. He was forced to share the honour with Romania's Marian Dragulescu, who had the same score of 9,950 points. Latvia's Igors Vihrovs, the champion from Sydney 2000, took the bronze.

Immediately following this, Yovchev entered the ring competition where he opposed Hungary's Sylvester Csollany, a constant champion over the last three years. Yovchev was ready, though, and had prepared a far more complicated and effective composition, which was performed immaculately, giving him, and his country, the second gold of the day.

"Such a success has not happened in Bulgarian sports gymnastics," said Nikola Prodanov, director of the Bulgarian Gymnastics Federation, following the competition. "This is not only about the two titles in two apparatuses, but also about Yordan's medal in the all around, which has the value of a gold medal."

Before Yovchev, other Bulgarian gymnasts have achieved some success over the years. Stoyan Delchev became champion on the horizontal bar in 1980 in Moscow, and Lubomir Geraskov did the same on the pommel horse. With the women, Boryana Stoyanova became world champion in 1982 in the vault competition.

After taking the second gold medal in rings, Jugi - as Yovchev is called in sports circles - was warmly welcomed by the head of the International Gymnastics Federation, Bruno Grandi, and by sportspeople and journalists. "It is incredible that such a small country can produce such a champion," said former champion Bart Conner, adding that his friend Yovchev was perhaps the most successful gymnast in the tournament.

Yovchev's success over the last few years among the world's elite cannot be called accidental. His first medal among the men came in 1995, when he won the bronze on the floor and took fourth position in the all around for the European Cup in Rome. The Bulgarian repeated the same ranking the following year at the European championships in Copenhagen, and added a silver in the rings.

At the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, he missed the bronze medal for rings and was left in fourth position.

In his multiple interviews after the success in Ghent, Yovchev said that his biggest dream was a world title, but he never dreamt about two titles from one championship. He spoke with great respect about his rivals and he especially valued his medal from the floor, where the competition was remarkable.

He also pointed out that it was harder for him on the rings because, during the last few years, and especially in Sydney, the judges have ignored him. Although after the Atlanta Olympics, he moved to live and train in the U.S., Yovchev continues to compete for Bulgaria and is still a member of the gymnastics club Chernomorski Yunak in Varna.

"Since recently I have a new job," he said. "Until now, I had to train children, but now I am already a coordinator and director of the male program in Norman, Oklahoma. I am appointing coaches and preparing the program in which they should be leading the training."