_Editor’s note: This is the fifth part of a series highlighting Illinois gymnast Paul Ruggeri’s road to potentially qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games._

Two years ago, Paul Ruggeri competed in his first international gymnastics competition for Team USA, the World Stars Competition in Moscow, Russia. The Illinois senior was lonely, nervous, in culture shock and barely known in the gymnastics world. Today, Ruggeri has traveled to six international competitions and won six medals.

On Sunday, Ruggeri leaves for his final international event before the 2012 London Olympics: The Cottbus (Germany) World Cup, which takes place March 20-26. Ruggeri is not alone, as USA teammates John Orozco and Jesse Silverstein will join him. He has an even more familiar face as his coach, Illinois assistant coach Ivan Ivankov.

The stage has changed from two years ago and Ruggeri is ready.

“I really feel like I know what I’m doing now,” Ruggeri said. “I’m prepared, I’m ready to go.”

He’s no longer a stranger to the gymnastics world, but instead is a gymnast to watch.

“A lot of the best athletes in the world will be there, but the funny thing is, those athletes are looking at Paul,” Illinois head coach Justin Spring said. “He’s gone to meets and medaled regularly. He’s looked at within the international world as one of the greatest high bar athletes in the world.”

The foreign competitors are not alone in watching Ruggeri — the Olympic Selection Committee and his U.S. teammates, who are also his competition for the Olympic team, will keep close tabs as time trickles on toward the Olympics.

“Everything that happens right now is taken into consideration,” Spring said. “Every move is being watched.”

Ruggeri isn’t letting the pressure affect him, though. He’s looking forward more to the excitement of competing abroad and the comfort of traveling with people he knows.

Freshman C.J. Maestas represented the United States at the Cottbus Cup last winter and has given Ruggeri advice, but mostly fun things to do.

“Paul is a competitor, so there’s not really advice,” Maestas said. “I named off some good restaurants and stuff, generally he’s got this.”

Ivankov is no stranger to international competition, having competed in the Cottbus Cup 10 times with seven event titles and 18 top-three finishes, making him the most successful athlete in the tournament’s history. A native of Belarus, Ivankov is looking forward to seeing old friends when overseas.

“I know a lot of people,” Ivankov said. “I think I’ll meet some old friends there. It’s going to be fun, it will be a fun treat for us.”

Ivankov knows the surface for the floor exercise in international competitions is harder than usual and Ruggeri’s routine may need to be tweaked to avoid injury.

“We’ve talked about the floor surface,” Ivankov said. “We know we can make small modifications to skills on the floor.”

Ivankov and Ruggeri have never traveled together internationally, and both are looking forward to the experience. Spring said the duo’s relationship is different than that between Ruggeri and Spring, and that Ivankov can offer Ruggeri some key advice.

“Ivan definitely brings a great presence, a soothing presence and a calming presence,” Spring said. “That’s perfect for Paul right now. If he stays confident and has that presence, I think he’s going to go out and do exactly what he can do, is medal.”

Ruggeri’s confidence is at a high right now — last weekend, he took four titles at Nebraska, giving him 70 in his career, good for third place on the Illinois all-time titles list.

Ruggeri’s performance in Germany will allow him one last chance before the Olympics see where he stacks up internationally.

“This will be a very valuable experience for him,” Ivankov said. “It will be interesting for me to see what level of gymnastics they’re doing and what expectations should be made for Paul when he has such a big goal of making an Olympic team.”