Chechi was named after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.<ref name=sr/> He won the Olympics title in the rings at Atlanta 1996 and was third at Athens 2004. Chechi's bronze was the result of his attempted comeback into the sport at the age of 35, well above what is considered the average age of a male gymnast.
Chechi dominated his speciality, the rings, during the nineties, so he was nicknamed "the Lord of the Rings"; however, he could not participate in the Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games due to serious injuries. He has won five gold and two bronze medals at the World Gymnastics Championships and four gold and two bronze medals at the European Championships.<ref name=sr/>
Jury sparked some controversy at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games when he shook the hand of silver medalist in the rings final, Yordan Yovchev and signalled that he should have won the gold medal, not Dimosthenis Tampakos (meaning that he won only because he was the local champion).
