View source for Leon Štukelj

{{Short description|Slovenian gymnast}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox gymnast
| name           = Leon Štukelj
| image          = Leon Štukelj 1958 (2).jpg
| image_size     = 220px
| caption        = Štukelj in 1958 displaying his six Olympic medals
| country        = {{flag|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|name=Yugoslavia}}
| discipline     = MAG
| birth_date     = {{birth date|df=y|1898|11|12}}
| birth_place    = [[Kandija, Novo Mesto|Kandija]], [[Duchy of Carniola|Carniola]],<br> [[Austria-Hungary]]<br>{{small|(now [[Slovenia]])}}
| death_date     = {{death date and age|df=y|1999|11|8|1898|11|12}}
| death_place    = [[Maribor]], [[Slovenia]]
| medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport | Men's [[gymnastics]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{flagicon|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}} [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Paris]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1924 Summer Olympics|All-around]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Paris]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1924 Summer Olympics|Horizontal bar]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Amsterdam]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1928 Summer Olympics|Rings]]}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Amsterdam]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1928 Summer Olympics|Team competition]]}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Amsterdam]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1928 Summer Olympics|All-around]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Berlin]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1936 Summer Olympics|Rings]]}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1922 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1922 Ljubljana]]|Parallel bars}}
{{MedalGold|[[1922 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1922 Ljubljana]]|Horizontal bar}}
{{MedalGold|[[1922 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1922 Ljubljana]]|Rings}}
{{MedalGold|[[1926 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1926 Lyon]]|Horizontal bar}}
{{MedalGold|[[1926 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1926 Lyon]]|Rings}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1922 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1922 Ljubljana]]|Pommel horse}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1926 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1926 Lyon]]|Parallel bars}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1930 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1930 Luxembourg]]|Horizontal bar}}
| show-medals    = yes
}}

'''Leon Štukelj''' ({{audio|Sl-Leon Štukelj.oga|listen}}; 12 November 1898 – 8 November 1999) was a Slovene professional gymnast. He was an [[Olympic gold medalist]] and athlete who represented [[Yugoslavia at the Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/31521 |title=Leon Štukelj |work=Olympedia |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref>

He is a noted figure in [[Slovenia]]n sporting history. Štukelj is one of the first Slovene athletes to have risen to the very top of his sport, where he remained right from the World Championships in [[Ljubljana]] in 1922 all the way to the 1936 [[1936 Summer Olympics|Olympic Games in Berlin]], at which point he finished his competitive gymnastics career.

Štukelj competed at seven major international competitions and won a total of twenty [[medal]]s: eight gold, six silver, and six bronze. At the Olympic Games alone he won six medals: two gold medals (counted for Yugoslavia) in [[1924 Summer Olympics|Paris in 1924]], one gold medal and two bronze in [[1928 Summer Olympics|Amsterdam in 1928]] and a silver medal in Berlin in 1936.

==Biography==
Štukelj was born in [[Kandija, Novo Mesto|Kandija]] (part of [[Novo Mesto]] since 1923),<ref>{{cite journal |title=Razglas o izločitvi katastralne občine Kandije in dela katastralne občine Gotne vasi in njiju priklopitev k mestni občini novomeški |journal=Uradni List Narodne Vlade SHS V Ljubljani |date=June 6, 1923 |volume=5 |issue=53 |page=368 |url=https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-6MT31013/9915a99e-8f5c-4268-b70b-fe52bce98dc7/PDF |access-date=August 7, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Priključitev Kandije Novemu mestu |url=https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-4FA265A2/2d02b6b4-9764-4e4c-bbc2-0bfcf4f32ac8/PDF |access-date=August 7, 2024 |work=Jutranje novosti |issue=149 |date=July 27, 1923 |page=3}}</ref> [[Austria-Hungary]] (now in [[Slovenia]]).<ref name="Geburts">{{cite book |title=Geburts- und Tauf-Buch |date=1885–1912 |location=Novo mesto - Šmihel |page=134 |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/ljubljana/novo-mesto-smihel/04094/?pg=145 |access-date=August 7, 2024}}</ref> His baptismal record bears the name ''Leopold'', crossed out and replaced with ''Leo''. A 1999 addendum to the volume corrects the name ''Leo'' to ''Leon'';<ref name="Geburts"/> his name appears as both ''Leo Štukelj'' and ''Leon Štukelj'' in newspapers of the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1927, Štukelj graduated with a degree in law. Since his youth, he was an active member of the [[Slovenian Sokol movement|Slovenian ''Sokol'' athletic movement]]. After finishing his sports career, he became a judge, first in his hometown of Novo Mesto. Later, he moved to [[Lenart v Slovenskih Goricah|Lenart]], and then to [[Maribor]], where he lived until his death. After World War II, Štukelj was not a supporter of the newly formed [[Communist regime]] of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. He took part in the Yugoslav royalist ([[Chetnik]]) movement, hostile to [[Yugoslav partisans|Tito's partisans]], and maintained contacts with the British [[Special Operations Executive]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.volja.net/marijankr/dok/samardzic-polemika-01.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=3 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628180027/http://users.volja.net/marijankr/dok/samardzic-polemika-01.pdf |archive-date=28 June 2011  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/aktuelno.69.html:173252-Slovena269ke-straze--273enerala-Draze|title = Slovenačke straže đenerala Draže}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.volja.net/marijankr/NK06-cetnici.html |title=Četnici |access-date=3 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718010232/http://users.volja.net/marijankr/NK06-cetnici.html |archive-date=18 July 2012  }}</ref> For these reasons, he was suspicious to the new Communist regime. After the war, he was first imprisoned, then released; but permanently barred from being a judge. He worked as a [[paralegal|legal assistant]] for the rest of his career.

Štukelj was presented at the opening ceremony of the [[1996 Summer Olympics|Games of the XXVI Olympiad]] in [[Atlanta]] in 1996 as the oldest living Olympic gold medalist at the time, where he shook hands with the current President of the United States at the time, [[Bill Clinton]]. He also presented the medals to winners in the men's team competition.

Štukelj died aged 100, in 1999.

A sports hall in Novo Mesto, mainly used by a local basketball team, was named after Štukelj, in addition to the University Sports Hall situated on the campus of the [[University of Maribor]].

==Hall of Fame==
*(1997) – was inducted into the [[International Gymnastics Hall of Fame]]<ref>{{cite web | title = LEON STUKELJ | work=International Gymnastics Hall of Fame | url = http://www.ighof.com/honorees/honorees_stukelj.html | access-date = 12 May 2007 }}</ref>
*(2011) – was inducted into the [[Slovenian Athletes Hall of Fame]]<ref>[http://www.dolenjskilist.si/2011/12/21/72273/novice/dolenjska/V_Hramu_slavnih_sportnikov_prva_Stukelj_in_Cerar/ dolenjskilist.si]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{FIG}}
*{{IGHOF}}
*{{Olympics.com}}
*{{Olympedia}}
*{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031204112314/http://stukelj.infotehna.si/english/leon.htm |date=4 December 2003 |title=Leon Štukelj, Ave Triumphator}}
*{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201150930/http://www.lightthetorch.net/2006/leon-stukelj-the-100-year-old-olympic-legend |date=1 December 2007 |title=Leon Štukelj, the 100-year-old Olympic legend}}
*{{YouTube|kp-1zF0E8PQ|Leon Štukelj at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics}}

{{Novo Mesto |state=collapsed}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions All-Around Men}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions Rings Men}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions Horizontal Bar Men}}
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{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsMen’sParallelBars}}
{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsMenHorizontalBar}}
{{International Gymnastics Hall of Fame members}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stukelj, Leon}}
[[Category:Yugoslav male artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:Slovenian male artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1936 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gymnasts for Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Slovenian men centenarians]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Novo Mesto]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Maribor]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:Carniolan people]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Slovenian Chetnik personnel of World War II]]