In November 1998 the Slovene and international sports world will mark an important anniversary - 100 years of Leon Štukelj, the oldest Olympic gold medallist still alive. The principal event will be a gymnastics gala, with top gymnasts as the performers, held under the honorary auspices of the President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch. Leon Štukelj, a world sports legend born on 12 November 1898 in Novo mesto, Slovenia, goes down in the history of Slovene and international sport as the most successful competitor at major international sports competitions, including world championships and the Olympic Games.
The principal event marking the champion's hundredth birthday is a gymnastics gala entitled "Ave, Triumphator!" to be held on 12th November 1998 at 8 p.m. in Novo mesto, Slovenia. This event will be conducted under the honorary auspices of the President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Janez Drnovšek. A unique element of this gymnastics gala will be the performance of the following internationally acclaimed gymnasts: Jurij Chechi from Italy (World Champion on the rings between 1993 and 1997, the 1996 Olympic gold medallist on the rings), Valerij Belenkij from Germany (team all- around Olympic gold winner in 1992, and the 1991 and 1997 world champion on the pommel horse), Simona Amanar from Romania (Olympic gold medallist in 1996 and the European and world champion in the vault), Adrianne Varga from Hungary (European champion in the vault) and two representatives of rhythmic gymnastics from Belarus, and the former European champions Aljaž Pegan, Mitja Petkovšek, Dejan Ločnikar and Mojca Mavrič.
Leon Štukelj's first serious encounter with gymnastics took place in 1907 when he joined the Sokol gymnastics society in Novo mesto. In total he won twenty medals at seven world championships; 8 golds, 6 silvers and 6 bronzes. In the Olympic Games he won six medals; two gold medals in Paris in 1924, one gold and two bronze medals in Amsterdam in 1928 and for the end of his career one silver medal in Berlin in 1936. These achievements and medals make him the most successful Slovene gymnast and sportsman of all times, and one of the greatest gymnasts in the world. However, he is also the oldest living holder of an Olympic gold medal in the world.
Štukelj, only two years younger than the beginning of the modern Olympic Games and a triumphant embodiment of the ancient Greek identity of the spirit and the body, is not only a synonym for apparatus gymnastics but also for Slovene sport and human values. Leon Štukelj personifies the idea of Olympianism in the noblest sense of the word, for he preserves the genuine image of gymnastics by nobly intertwining the spirit and the body. He remains a model for the young and the entire sport as a man of incredible will, persistence, patience and endurance, and a man of witty and intelligent character.