Pegan became the world champion on the high bar in Melbourne in 2005 and is also a three-time silver medallist (2002, 2006, 2007). He was the European champion in 1994 and 2004, while he also bagged an incredible 32 World Cup victories, four of which on the parallel bars.

Remembering his beginnings, Pegan speaks of a youth packed with training and sacrifices, which were interrupted only by longer summer stays on the sea side. He was tempted to quit several times, but realised sometime after secondary school that he had invested too much in the sport to just stop.

"I think the fact that I made it to the top very fast played a very important role. I already won at the European championships in 1994 soon after my 20th birthday and everything changed after that," Pegan said, explaining that getting a job in the Armed Forces made it easier for him to bridge a few dry years that followed.

His career-long frustration with trying to qualify for the Olympics began in 1995, when he failed to secure a spot in Atlanta 1996. He came close again in 2007, silver at the Worlds was however not enough for Beijing.

"The games in 2008 would have been my last real chance to win a medal at the Olympics. Last year in London I would not have stood a chance, since a big leap forward had been made on the high bar," said Pegan, who was denied qualification for Beijing after the Olympic "wild card" spot was awarded to a completely unknown gymnast from Yemen.

"I cannot but reconcile myself with that. However, it is also true that the qualifying system of the International Federation of Gymnastics is completely misguided in my view, or unfriendly to specialists on individual apparatuses. This is a paradox, because they simultaneously encourage specialisation."

Pegan's focus on merely the high bar, which was his biggest obstacle in efforts to qualify for Olympic Games, was brought about by injury problems that began in 1997.

Until that year he was also competing in the all-around category, to devote himself later to the parallel bars and high bar and eventually only to the latter. Pegan pushed the limits of the two apparatuses to a point where he also has one extremely demanding element named after him on each of them.

Asked about what kind of an effect a big name in gymnasts has on judges, he said that "it takes a long time to build a name with good performances, but once you have it, things are much easier".

"For quite a while I had some advantage over the other boys. If I managed a routine without a major mistake, I won," the veteran remembers.

As regards his fondest memories, Pegan highlighted the Melbourne Championships, but also the victory at the European Championships in Ljubljana in 2004, where he delivered an immaculate performance after disastrous preparations.

Having last won competitions in the World Cup in 2010 and no longer being in top form after injuries, Pegan feels the time is definitely ripe for him to retire.

"It's a fact that I can no longer dedicate so much time to training and the body probably would not handle so much strain...I'm completely reconciled with this being it. I wish to stay in gymnastics. Not as a coach, but I believe I can help in some other ways."