Leon Stukelj

Leon Štrukelj

He vas born in Novo mesto, 12. 11. 1898. He was in The First World War and he stayed alive. He studied law at the university in Vienna, in Zagreb and at the newly opened University of Ljubljana and there, in 1926, he took a diploma. In 1926 he completed the bar exam and became a judge in Maribor. He moved there and lived there his whole life.

His first meeting with sports - gymnastics – was at Sokol. In 1922 he was invited to the 7th World Championship in Ljubljana. In 1924 he lost his father. In this year, the Olympic Games were in Paris. Before leaving, he damaged his hand. He was invited to the Olympic Games only as a compliment for his hard work, but the leadership persuaded him to compete. An arbitrator supported him. Because of injury on his hand they ruled that if he fell down, a teammate could replace him. His first exercise was pole. He completed an excellent routine, but a Finland arbitrator ruled that he made one gigantic swing too little. He had to repeat the exercise and he got a gold medal. He got a gold medal in many other disciplines too. He was the best gymnast at the Olympic games. He is a Slovenian and Olympic legend.

Over 2 years At the OG in Amsterdam, he got another two gold medals.. He got 2 bronze medals. In 1996 he participated in the opening ceremony of the summer olympic games in Atlanta in North America.

Leon Štrukelj was a man who survived both World Wars and both Yugoslavias. He was born during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, 30 years before the invention of television and the discovery of penicillin. In the same year he was born, the first car came to Slovenia. He had been through the first human flight, first step on the moon, first fall of atomic bomb and other achievements of the modern word.