By Veronique Bury FIG Editor.

STILL HERE

Beijing (CHN) NIS FIG Office, August 18, 2008: After running off with an Olympic Gold in vault in 2000 and 2004, Spaniard Gervasio Deferr seized the Silver at the floor final Sunday; his way of letting everyone know that he's still here!

Olympic vault champion in 2000, Gervasio nearly saw his career go up in smoke after sustaining a number of shoulder injuries that kept him out of competition for more than a year. In addition to that, he tested positive for cannabis three times consecutively, which earned him a three-month suspension in 2002. It didn't even faze him. In 2004, he roared to the top of the vault competition at the Athens Olympic Games. Could he do it again in Beijing? The answer is yes.

Oddly, Gervasio performed a mere one vault at the Olympic qualifying rounds on Saturday, August 9, making little or no effort to qualify for his signature apparatus. But he went on to take a well-earned place in the floor final.

Title-holding vice world floor champion, Gervasio, whose mother had urged him to begin practising gymnastics at the age of 6, was determined not to let his chance slip by. Last up, and in the wake of the disappointing falls of Dragulescu and Hypolito, Gervasio Deferr gave a flawless pass that earned him second place on the podium, in the shadow of Chinese Zou Kai, who excelled in difficulty.

'I was so nervous,' explained Gervasio after his pass. 'I had a strange feeling in my chest. I had just seen the other gymnasts make mistakes, and I was feeling tremendous pressure, as if I were the next to fall.'

But the 27 year old gymnast, who had made no bones about using glue on his feet to avoid slipping, never wavered in a single landing. He took his first Olympic medal on floor after having placed fourth in Athens.

'I finally have an Olympic floor medal!' explained an exuberant Gervasio. 'I'm really psyched. This medal means something to me considering all I've been through, my shoulder operation, back problems and all that!'

The captain of the Spanish team is already thinking ahead to the next Olympic Games. 'If I'm still in shape and don't get injured, I'll go at it like a kid!'

To be continued in London in 2012.