Sport in Bulgaria

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tsvetana Pironkova and Jill Craybas during the coin toss, before their 2009 Wimbledon Championships first round.

Bulgaria has established traditions in a great variety of sports.

Olympics

Main article: Bulgaria at the Olympics
An Olympic-standard swimming pool in Varna.

Bulgaria participates both in the Summer and Winter Olympics, and its first appearance dates back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, when the Swiss gymnast Charles Champaud represented the country. Since then Bulgaria has appeared in most Summer Olympiads, and as of 2022 has won a total of 224 medals: 54 gold, 88 silver, and 82 bronze. The most successful participations took place at Munich (21 medals), Montreal (22 medals), Moscow (41), Seoul (35). At the Winter Olympic Games, Bulgaria has a less impressive record: only 6 medals (of which only one gold) out of 19 participations.

Some of the most prominent Olympians include

Mariya Grozdeva (shooting), Ekaterina Dafovska (biathlon), Armen Nazaryan (wrestling), Stefka Kostadinova (high jump, holder of the world record since 1987), Yordanka Donkova (100 m, holder of the world record since 1988), Yordan Yovchev (gymnastics), Neshka Robeva (gymnastics), Rumyana Neykova
(rowing).

doping have occurred among Bulgarian weightlifters, which led to the expulsion of the entire Bulgarian team from the 2000 Summer Olympics, and their voluntary withdrawal from the 1988 Summer Olympics. Olympic authorities stripped a number of Bulgarian weightlifters of medals in 2004; and the country's entire weightlifting team withdrew in 2008.[1]
[2] Stefan Botev, Nikolay Peshalov, Demir Demirev, Asen Zlatev, Blagoy Blagoev and Yoto Yotov figure among the most distinguished weightlifters. Naim Süleymanoğlu an ethnic Turk, originally trained and competed for Bulgaria before defecting and competing for Turkey.

short track speed skating
.

Association football

Main article: Football in Bulgaria

Football is the most popular sport in Bulgaria. Many Bulgarians closely follow the top Bulgarian league, currently known as the First Professional Football League; as well as the leagues of other European countries. The national team achieved its greatest success with a fourth-place finish at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.

Dimitar Berbatov

Petar Jekov
.

Botev Plovdiv, Cherno More Varna, Spartak Varna and Lokomotiv Plovdiv
.

Volleyball

Main article: Bulgaria men's national volleyball team
The team in 2014

In its men's national volleyball side, controlled by the

2007 World Cup in Japan. As of 2009 the most popular Bulgarian volleyball players include Plamen Konstantinov, Matey Kaziyski and Vladimir Nikolov
.

Rugby union

Main article: Rugby union in Bulgaria
Bulgaria vs. Andora (2019)

Rugby union in Bulgaria dates back to the 1960s, possibly earlier. Bulgaria also has its own international men, women's and sevens teams.

Other sports

Bulgaria boasts great achievements in a great variety of other sports.

Artistic Gymnastics. In wrestling, Boyan Radev, Serafim Barzakov, Armen Nazaryan, Plamen Slavov, Kiril Sirakov and Sergey Moreyko rank as world-class wrestlers. Dan Kolov
became a wrestling legend in the early 20th century while living in United States. Out of 1576 matches, he has 75 recorded losses.

Kamsky in Sofia, Bulgaria
, 2009: Round 2.

Bulgarians have made many significant achievements in athletics.

Ivet Lalova and Tezdzhan Naimova
.

Chess has achieved great popularity. One of the top chess-masters and a former world champion, Veselin Topalov, plays for Bulgaria. At the end of 2005, both men's and women's world chess-champions came from Bulgaria, as well as the junior world champion.

Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski have won the ISU world figure skating championships twice in a row (2006 and 2007) for ice-dance.

Bulgarians have also achieved major successes in

Sesil Karatancheva, and Grigor Dimitrov
, a two-time junior Grand Slam champion, 2014 Wimbledon semi-finalist, 2017 Australian Open semi-finalist, 2019 US Open semi-finalist and 2017 World Tour Finals champion.

Boyan Petrov (Bulgarian: Боян Петров, born 7 February 1973) is a Bulgarian zoologist and mountaineer, working at the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia.[1] As of July 2016, he has climbed 8 eight-thousanders, all without supplementary oxygen. This achievement makes him Bulgarian altitude climber with the highest number of peaks over 8000 meters.

Petar Stoychev (Петър Стойчев) set a new swimming world record for crossing the English Channel in 2007.

Sofia Magpies vs Zagreb Hawks - the first ever Aussie rules football game in Bulgaria (06.04.2019)

The country has strong traditions in amateur boxing and in martial-arts competitions. Bulgaria has achieved major success with its judo and karate teams in European and World championships. Kaloyan Stefanov Mahlyanov, best known as Kotoōshū Katsunori, has become well-known worldwide for his sumo prowess, becoming the first European to earn the title ozeki in Japan. Bulgaria has also won several European sumo championships, and is often among the top competitors in this sport.

The Bulgaria national cricket team became an associate member of the ICC in 2017.

Bulgaria will host the 2020 FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup with Sofia as the host city between July 4 and 12 2020.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Medals". NyTimes. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  2. ^ Longman, jere (2000-09-23). "SYDNEY 2000: WEIGHT LIFTING; Drug Scandal Goes On: Bulgarian Team Is Ousted From Games". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-19. The entire Bulgarian weight-lifting team was expelled from the Olympics today in a drug scandal ... Two Bulgarian lifters tested positive for the diuretic furosemide, according to the International Olympic Committee. It was the same diuretic that two Bulgarian gold medalists were caught using at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea. The entire Bulgarian weight-lifting team withdrew from those Games.
  3. ^ Hibbs, Ben (30 September 2008). "Berbatov Plays It Cool". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
  4. ^ "Gundi pips Stoichkov to Top Footballer of the century" (article in Bulgarian)
  5. ^ Rankings of A Group
  6. ^ Best club of 20th century ranking at the official site of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics
  7. ^ FIVB official rankings as per January 15, 2009
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