The list of achievements of this modest and ascetic master of the pommel horse is more than impressive as it features 30 medals from the major competitions - Olympics, world and European championships - including golds at the Olympics in 1964 and 1968.
One would say his career has been recorded in a series of autobiographies and biographies, but this is actually only the second book on Cerar, coming a few decades after the first one. This is mainly because Cerar was reluctant to let others into his life and avoided media attention.
The main author of the project, Joze Kostanjevec, said at the ceremony that the book "Miroslav Cerar and His Time" had taken 10 years from the idea to the realisation. "The idea for a book on Cerar's career was born upon his 60th birthday," he added.
The launch of the book was also attended by the co-authors Sebastijan Piletic, Edvard Kolar, and STA sport journalist Zala Zaletel. Also attending was Vlado Slamberger, one of the two authors of the first book on Cerar, "The Last Romantic on Horse", from 1966.
The book is not only a biography of Miro Cerar, but it also touches on a very important part of the history of gymnastics, Piletic told the ceremony, adding that Cerar should not be remembered only as a pommel horse master, because he was also excellent on other apparatuses.
"He was the first gymnast to win in the all-around finals at European championships two times in a row. He was also a big advocate of fair play and always emphasised modesty and tolerance in sport," Piletic said.
Cerar's friend Tine Srot remembered seeing the gymnastic champion exercise for the first time: "When he started his exercise on the horse, I thought to myself: this is a revolution in gymnastics."
His spouse Zdenka added she was glad that she, together with their children, helped contribute to the book's story. Cerar thanked his family and friends, pointing to the importance of friendship and hard work, which he prefers to his greatest sport results.
He also touched on the number of medals he won, adding jokingly that "his Russian opponents used to tell me that there would be a couple of medals more if I was a member of the Russian team".
Veteran gymnast Aljaz Pegan, who is still winning medals at major competitions at 35, praised the achievements of Cerar's generations and thanked it for making the sport so popular in Slovenia.
In addition to numerous medals, Cerar also won several other awards, including the Olympic order (L'Ordre Olympique) throughout his career. He won the title of best Yugoslavian athlete nine times, and was inducted in 1999 into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
President Danilo Tuerk awarded Cerar on 19 October with the Golden Order for Services. "He has been a role model for athletes and the young in general," the president said on the occasion.
