ANAHEIM (California), Aug 24: Bulgaria’s Jordan Jovtchev ignored an excruciating muscle injury to produce one of the bravest performances at the world gymnastics championships and carry off two golds on Saturday.

First, he performed a daring routine to share first place for the floor exercise with American Paul Hamm and later tied for the rings gold with Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece.

Jovtchev overcame torn muscles in his side caused by a fall on Thursday in the parallel bars, an injury which would have sidelined many other gymnasts.

He had not even been sure he would compete in the individual event finals after he dropped out of the all-round competition before it was completed because of his pain.

After his fall on Thursday, he went to a local hospital, where X-rays were taken of his right side. The tests showed he had not broken any bones but that he had extensive bruising and torn muscle fibres.

The 30-year-old Jovtchev won Olympic bronze medals on floor exercise and rings in Sydney 2000 before going on to take gold in those disciplines in the 2001 world championships in Belgium.—Reuters