January 22, 2018
Slovenian gymnast on the pommel horse Sašo Bertoncelj has become the fourth Slovenian to have a gymnastic element named after him, reports the STA January 22, 2018. The element Bertoncelj is given a level C skill worth 0.3 points in the revised Code of Points of the International Federation of Gymnastics that applies until the 2020 Olympics.
The best Slovenian gymnast in recent years has thus joined Lojze Kolman, Aljaž Pegan and Alen Dimic, who have also invented their own gymnastic skills which are named after them.
The Bertoncelj was ranked as a low-difficulty element, as difficulty ratings for men's code range from A (easiest, 0.10 points) to H (most difficult, 0.80 points).
Announcing the news on his Instagram profile a few days ago, the gymnast thanked his coach Sebastijan Piletič for years of efforts to have the element officially recognised.
"It feels really good. Better than I thought it would," said the veteran gymnast, who performed his original element for the first time ten years go.
Asked whether he would use it in his routines, Bertoncelj said probably not, because it did not carry enough points. "Sebastijan and I think the element is not ranked as high and it should be."
He said he had used it in some of his easier routines and that hopefully its level of difficulty would be increased one day, so he could use it more often.
