| David Huddleston | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Huddleston at the 2022 European Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | David Justus Huddleston | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 9 August 2000 The Hague, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 171 cm (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Bulgaria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Damian Ignatov | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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David Justus Huddleston (born 9 August 2000) is a Bulgarian artistic gymnast. He represented Bulgaria at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Born in the Netherlands to a Bulgarian mother and an American father, [1] Huddleston has spent time living in the Cayman Islands, the USA and Bulgaria. He has mostly been a distance learner, though he was enrolled in a Bulgarian school between grades 3 and 7. He has an older sister, Veselina, who is a medical student, as well as a younger brother, Matey, who is a marathon runner. [2]
Huddleston began gymnastics at the age of three in the Cayman Islands and continued his training after moving to Bulgaria in 2008. [1]
Huddleston made his international debut at the 2014 Junior European Championships when he was 13 years old, making him one of the youngest at the competition. [2] He finished 12th in the all-around final and also advanced to the pommel horse and parallel bars finals, finishing fifth in both. [3] He was the first reserve for the all-around final at the 2016 Junior European Championships and finished 25th with the Bulgarian team. [4]
Huddleston won a bronze medal on the floor exercise at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival behind Nicolau Mir and Yuri Busse. [5] In 2018, he tore his bicep at a training camp in Moscow and missed a year of competition. [2]
Huddleston won his first FIG World Cup medal at the 2019 Mersin World Challenge Cup when he finished second on the vault. [6] He then competed at the 2019 World Championships and finished 39th in the all-around during the qualification round. [7] With this result, he qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. [8] [9]
At the 2020 European Championships, Huddleston helped the Bulgarian team finish fifth, and he finished eighth in the parallel bars final. [10] He won a bronze medal on the parallel bars at the 2021 Osijek World Challenge Cup, behind Ferhat Arıcan and Milad Karimi. [11] In June 2021, Huddleston dislocated his ankle and tore multiple ligaments. He still chose to compete at the Olympic Games one month later despite the injury. [1] [12] He finished 59th in the all-around during the qualifications and did not advance into any finals. [13]
Huddleston is in a relationship with Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast and Olympic champion Erika Zafirova. [2] [14]
