Olfati’s historic Asian gold among ‘gymnastics biggest stories of 2025’: FIG
Mahdi Olfati’s historic gold medal at the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in June was recognized as “one of the sport’s 10 biggest stories” of 2025 by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Olfati made history for Iranian gymnastics by scoring 14.500 points in the men’s vault final in Jecheon, South Korea, claiming the country’s first gold in 12 editions of the competition.
China’s Huang Mingqi took silver, while reigning Olympic champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines settled for bronze.
“2024 Olympian Mahdi Olfati raised the standard on men’s vault when he landed a Yurchenko full-twisting double back at the Asian Championships in Jecheon,” the FIG report said.
“The 5.6 difficulty vault made Olfati the first Iranian gymnast to win an Asian title in gymnastics and etched his name into the Men’s Code of Points as the creator of one of gymnastics’ most challenging new skills,” the report added.
The 24-year-old Iranian also made history at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, two years ago, when he claimed vault silver — Iran’s first-ever artistic gymnastics medal in 19 editions of the Games.