Marian Drăgulescu (born 18 December 1980 in Bucharest) is a former Romanian artistic gymnast. During his senior gymnastics career he won 31 medals at Olympic Games at World and European Championships, of which eight are gold medals at the World Championships and ten are gold medals at European Championships. Drăgulescu's strongest events were vault and floor, on which he was a multiple world champion and Olympic medalist. The handspring double front somersault with ½ turn is named after him in the Code of Points. In the all-around, Drăgulescu was the European champion (2004) and bronze medalist (2000) and placed 8th at the 2004 Olympic Games. Early life and career As a young boy, Drǎgulescu only attended gymnastics lessons because they were an excuse to get out of karate. However, as training became more intense he decided to switch to swimming because it was free. His father was not aware that he was not at gymnastics, but he soon went back to the gym as swimming was no longer free after three months. Drǎgulescu's debut as a junior at a major international competition was in 1998 European Championships in St. Petersburg. There, he won gold on pommel horse, silver on vault, and bronze on floor and in the team event, and he placed eight in the individual all-around. Senior career 1999–2003 Drǎgulescu's first participation as a senior at a major event was at the 1999 World Championships, where he placed fourth on vault, eight on high bar and 26th all around. One year later he won an all-around bronze, a gold on floor and a silver with the team at the 2000 European championships in Bremen ahead of the Sydney Games. His debut at the Olympic Games in 2000 was rather modest, coming sixth on the floor and 13th in the all-around. He soon overcame the disappointment suffered in Sydney at the world championships at Ghent in Belgium the following year, where he was in top form, winning gold on the floor and on vault. In 2002 he added three more gold medals to his collection on two on vault and with the team and a bronze on floor at the 2002 Europeans and at the 2002 Worlds. For his achievements he was awarded the "Gymnast of the Year Award" (2002) by the International Press Association. He received this award during the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim. Here he won silver