HUDDLESTON David

Bulgaria

Artistic Gymnastics

Date of Birth: 9 Aug 2000

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Height (m/ft): 1.71/5'7''

Place of birth: THE HAGUE

Birth Country:

Netherlands

Place of residence : SOFIA

Residence Country:

Bulgaria

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Artistic Gymnastics	Men's All-Around
	Men's Floor Exercise
	Men's Pommel Horse
	Men's Rings
	Men's Vault
	Men's Parallel Bars
	Men's Horizontal Bar

Schedule

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Biographical Information

Highlights

Athlete:

World Championships

Year	Location	FX	HB	PB	PH	SR	AA
2019	Stuttgart, GER	60	71	55	41	101	39

European Championships

Year	Location	FX	VT	HB	PB	PH	SR	AA	Team
2021	Basel, SUI	88	-	87	23	87	79	56	-
2020	Mersin, TUR	27	-	28	8	31	19	-	5
2019	Szczecin, POL	100	25	77	86	36	54	55	-

World Cup overview - Best rank per season and event since 2017

Year	FX	PH
2019/2020	1 x 26th	1 x 22nd

World Cup - Ten best performances since 2017

Rank	Year	Event	Location	Result
22	2019/2020	Pommel Horse	Baku, AZE	12.600
26	2019/2020	Floor Exercise	Baku, AZE	12.666

Legend
FX - Floor Excercise, VT - Vault, HB - Horizontal Bar, PB - Parallel Bars, PH - Pommel Horse, SR - Rings, AA - Individual All-Around, DNS - Did Not Start, DSQ - Disqualified

Hobbies:

Making video, cars, spending time with friends. (trud.bg, 24 Oct 2019)

Occupation:

Athlete

Family:

Partner Erika Zafirova

Languages spoken:

Bulgarian, English

Club name:

Eli-Gash [Sofia, BUL]

Coach:

Milko Tankushev [national], BUL; Damyan Ignatov [personal], BUL

Sporting relatives:

His partner Erika Zafirova has represented Bulgaria in rhythmic gymnastics and won bronze in the group all-round at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. (gimnastika.pro, 21 Dec 2019)

Injuries:

In July 2018 he sustained a torn biceps muscle at a training camp in Moscow, Russian Federation, and subsequently missed the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. (insport.bg, 02 Aug 2018)

He competed at the 2014 European Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, with an ankle injury on one leg and a calf injury on the other. He also experienced back pain at the tournament. (eli-gym.com, 30 May 2014; gong.bg, 28 May 2014)

Start:

He first tried gymnastics at age three in the Caribbean, and he began training seriously in 2008 after moving to Bulgaria. "My first memories were tears because I didn't like gymnastics at all. I was scared of almost everything.The only thing I loved was jumping on the trampoline and climbing ropes, which I was best at. At the time, I loved skateboarding, I was very good, I liked it a lot, and according to my mother, I was very good. I was very keen, but eventually I started doing gymnastics." (eli-gym.com, 30 May 2014)

Reason:

He was encouraged to take up the sport by his mother. "She is an ex-athlete and saw potential in me as a gymnast. She made me do the splits every day and taught me how to do a back flip. In 2007 my mother was talking with coach Damyan Ignatov on the phone, and she took a big step of moving from the Caribbean to Bulgaria just so I could train with him." (intlgymnast.com, 23 Sep 2019)

Ambition:

To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (bnr.bg, 08 Oct 2019)

Hero:

Bulgarian artistic gymnasts Yordan Yovchev and Krasimir Dunev, Japanese artistic gymnast Kohei Uchimura. (trud.bg, 24 Oct 2019)

General Interest

General
TO OLYMPICS WITH LOVE
He said that the presence and support of his partner, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast Erika Zafirova, at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, motivated his performance that allowed him to receive a qualification quota for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "Erika's presence in the gym was the reason why I won the quota for the Tokyo Olympics. She was with me not only physically but also spiritually. We looked after each appliance. We looked at each other after every apparatus. She sent me kisses, and I replied with hearts. It was a very beautiful moment for me and her. Together we go to the Olympics. We've been talking about this for a long time. We are very happy. This is a dream." (bnr.bg, 08 Oct 2019)

HERITAGE
Born in the Netherlands to a Bulgarian mother and a US father, he has spent time living in the Caribbean, the United States of America and Bulgaria. (intlgymnast.com, 23 Sep 2019)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

Timing and scoring provided by OMEGA. Results powered by Atos