Bulgaria (BUL)

Five Bulgarian athletes went to Athens for the 1896 Olympic Games, but due to a misunderstanding over the use of the Gregorian and the Julian Calendars, they arrived too late to compete. However, a Swiss national in 1896, Charles Champaud, worked in Sofia and is considered the first Bulgarian Olympian. It was not until 1923 that a National Olympic Committee (NOC) was formed and International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition followed in the next year. Bulgaria first competed at the Olympic Games in 1924, and it has since missed only the Olympic Games of 1932, 1948, and 1984. Bulgaria has had its greatest successes in strength sports, mainly weightlifting and wrestling. In the 1980s, it was the premier nation in the world in weightlifting. Through 2022, Bulgarian athletes have won 230 Olympic medals, 55 of them gold. A female shooter, Mariya Grozdeva, has won the most Olympic medals for Bulgaria, with five in all, and two golds.

Bulgaria’s first competed at the Olympic Winter Games in 1936 and it has participated at all celebrations since, for 21 appearances in all. They have competed in 11 of the current 15 Winter disciplines.

Bulgarian Winter Olympians have won six medals, one of them gold, at the Olympic Winter Games. Evgeniya Radanova has been their greatest Winter Olympian, winning three medals in short-track speedskating in 2002-2006: two silver in the 500 metres in both years, and a bronze in the 1,500 metres in 2002. Ekaterina Dafovska has won the only Bulgarian gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games, in the 1998 15 kilometre biathlon. Ivan Lebanov won the first Winter medal for Bulgaria at Lake Placid 1980, when he took bronze in the 30 kilometre cross-country skiing. Their other medal was a bronze by Irina Nikulchina, in 2002 biathlon pursuit.

In 1974, the Olympic Committee of Bulgaria was awarded with the Olympic Cup.