--- title: WATCH: This is the Best Yo-Yo-er in the World description: Surprise: He's really, really good. canonical: https://time.com/3098988/yo-yo-champion-gentry-stein/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-10T20:35:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:19.260Z og:title: WATCH: This is the Best Yo-Yo-er in the World og:description: Surprise: He's really, really good. og:url: https://time.com/3098988/yo-yo-champion-gentry-stein/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt844cef77e81fa0e0/69869ef7169ab0ca7027aac7/453396382.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: World Yo-Yo Contest 2014 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WATCH: This is the Best Yo-Yo-er in the World twitter:description: Surprise: He's really, really good. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt844cef77e81fa0e0/69869ef7169ab0ca7027aac7/453396382.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the World's Best Yo-Yo-er Show Off His Mad Skills by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Aug 10, 2014 8:35 PM UTC  PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - AUGUST 09: Gentry Stein of USA, first placed, competes during the World Yo-Yo Contest 2014 on August 9, 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic. The World Yo-Yo Contest is the largest gathering of competition yo-yo players and fans in the world. The Prague championship's has 280 players from 35 countries who compete for the World Yo-Yo Champion title. The World Yo-Yo Contest is leaving the USA for Prague for the first time in twenty-two years. (Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images) PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - AUGUST 09: Gentry Stein of USA, first placed, competes during the World Yo-Yo Contest 2014 on August 9, 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic. The World Yo-Yo Contest is the largest gathering of competition yo-yo players and fans in the world. The Prague championship's has 280 players from 35 countries who compete for the World Yo-Yo Champion title. The World Yo-Yo Contest is leaving the USA for Prague for the first time in twenty-two years. (Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images)Matej Divizna—Getty Images by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Aug 10, 2014 8:35 PM UTC Gentry Stein is an unassuming dude from California—you wouldn’t look twice, really, if you saw him walking down the street. But Stein is actually a professional yo-yo-er, and he’s just been named the world’s best, having taken home [top honors](http://yoyonews.com/2014/08/09/2014-world-yoyo-contest-gentry-stein-wins-1a/) in the 2014 [World Yo-Yo Contest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%5FYo-Yo%5FContest)‘s 1A division. The first World Yo-Yo Contest was held in 1932—and the yo-yo itself is much older, dating back to [500BCE and ancient Greece](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo-yo#History)—but the event wasn’t held annually until 1992\. It draws admirers and aficionados from across the globe, and is administered by the International Yo-Yo Federation (IYYF); this year, the championships were held in Prague. 1A, the division in which Stein excelled, is the name professionals use to describe single-string tricks, the form with which you’re probably most familiar. As you can see from the video, professionals are thrilling to watch. Watching Stein go through his repertoire may make you want to dig out that Yomega Brain and get practicing again. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3098988/yo-yo-champion-gentry-stein/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3098988/yo-yo-champion-gentry-stein/"},"headline":"Watch the World's Best Yo-Yo-er Show Off His Mad Skills","datePublished":"2014-08-10T20:35:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:19.260Z","description":"This goes way beyond 'walk the dog'","url":"https://time.com/3098988/yo-yo-champion-gentry-stein/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt844cef77e81fa0e0/69869ef7169ab0ca7027aac7/453396382.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt844cef77e81fa0e0/69869ef7169ab0ca7027aac7/453396382.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World Yo-Yo Contest 2014","caption":"World Yo-Yo Contest 2014","creditText":"Matej Divizna—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3098988/yo-yo-champion-gentry-stein/","name":"Watch the World's Best Yo-Yo-er Show Off His Mad Skills"}}]}] ```