Bulgaria first participated at the Olympic Games at the inaugural 1896 Games, with a single gymnast. However, since Charles Champaud was a Swiss national living in Sofia, some sources credit his appearance to Switzerland instead.
| Bulgaria at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | BUL |
| NOC | Bulgarian Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| Medals Ranked 26th |
|
| Summer appearances | |
| Winter appearances | |
The Bulgarian Olympic Committee was created in 1923 and first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1924. The nation has participated in every Summer Games since then, except for 1932 (during the Great Depression), 1948 (Bulgaria's role in World War II) and 1984 (part of the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics). Bulgaria first participated in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 and has attended every Winter Games since then.
Bulgarian athletes have won a total of 237 medals, with wrestling and weightlifting as the top medal-producing sports. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989–90, in Bulgaria's turbulent transition to free-market democracy, top-notch state support for Bulgarian Olympians disintegrated. Diminishing and marginalized medal returns were evident from the 2012 Summer Olympics, where Bulgaria, a former top-10 Olympic powerhouse in the late 1980s, fell out of its former high stature. Bulgaria's best performance to date has come in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where they finished third in the medal table. In the 1988 Summer Olympics, Bulgaria ranked 7th but won the nation's largest total of gold medals. Bulgaria's most successful Winter Olympics occurred in 1998 when the country ranked 15th in the medal table.
Medal tables
editMedals by Summer Games
edit| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1896 Athens |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1900–1920 | did not participate | |||||
 1924 Paris |
24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1928 Amsterdam |
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1932 Los Angeles |
did not participate | |||||
 1936 Berlin |
26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1948 London |
did not participate | |||||
 1952 Helsinki |
63 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 40 |
 1956 Melbourne |
43 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 19 |
 1960 Rome |
98 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 |
 1964 Tokyo |
63 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 11 |
 1968 Mexico City |
112 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 18 |
 1972 Munich |
130 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 21 | 9 |
 1976 Montreal |
158 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 7 |
 1980 Moscow |
270 | 8 | 16 | 17 | 41 | 3 |
| 1984 Los Angeles |
did not participate | |||||
 1988 Seoul |
171 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 35 | 7 |
 1992 Barcelona |
138 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 18 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
110 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 22 |
| 2000 Sydney |
91 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 | 16 |
 2004 Athens |
95 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 33 |
 2008 Beijing |
72 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 42 |
| 2012 London |
63 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 63 |
 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
51 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 65 |
| 2020 Tokyo |
42 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 30 |
| 2024 Paris |
46 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 26 |
| 2028 Los Angeles
| ||||||
| 2032 Brisbane
| ||||||
| Total | 57 | 89 | 85 | 231 | 23 | |
Medals by Winter Games
edit| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen |
7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1948 St. Moritz |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1952 Oslo |
10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo |
7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1960 Squaw Valley |
7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1964 Innsbruck |
7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1968 Grenoble |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1972 Sapporo |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1976 Innsbruck |
29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1980 Lake Placid |
8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
 1984 Sarajevo |
16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1988 Calgary |
26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1992 Albertville |
30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1994 Lillehammer |
17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1998 Nagano |
19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| 2002 Salt Lake City |
23 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 20 |
| 2006 Turin |
21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| 2010 Vancouver |
19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 2014 Sochi |
18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2018 Pyeongchang |
21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2022 Beijing |
15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026 Milano Cortina |
future event | |||||
| 2030 French Alps
| ||||||
| 2034 Salt Lake City
| ||||||
| Total | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 40 | |
Medals by summer sportedit
|
Medals by winter sportedit
|
List of medalists
editSummer Olympics
edit
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Winter Olympics
edit| Medal |  Name
|
Games | Sport | Event |
 Bronze |
Ivan Lebanov | 1980 Lake Placid |  Cross-country skiing |
Cross-country skiing 30 km |
 Gold |
Ekaterina Dafovska | 1998 Nagano |  Biathlon |
Individual |
 Silver |
Evgenia Radanova | 2002 Salt Lake City |  Short track speed skating |
500 metres |
| Bronze |
Irina Nikulchina | 2002 Salt Lake City | Biathlon |
Pursuit |
| Bronze |
Evgenia Radanova | 2002 Salt Lake City | Short track speed skating |
1500 metres |
| Silver |
Evgenia Radanova | 2006 Turin | Short track speed skating |
500 metres |
Multiple medal winners
editMedals by sport and year
editSummer Olympics
editAthletics
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 Munich |
0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 1976 Montreal |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1988 Seoul |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 1992 Barcelona |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2000 Sydney |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 5 | 8 | 6 | 19 |
Basketball
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Montreal |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Boxing
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 Helsinki |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1964 Tokyo |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1968 Mexico City |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 1972 Munich |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 1976 Montreal |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 Moscow |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1988 Seoul |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 1992 Barcelona |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2004 Athens |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2012 London |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 Tokyo |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 Paris |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 5 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
Canoeing
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 Munich |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 Moscow |
1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 1988 Seoul |
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 1992 Barcelona |
2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2000 Sydney |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 4 | 5 | 8 | 17 |
Equestrian
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Football
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 Melbourne |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1968 Mexico City |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Gymnastics
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 Rome |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 Moscow |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1988 Seoul |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2000 Sydney |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2004 Athens |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 Tokyo |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 Paris |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 3 | 5 | 8 | 16 |
Judo
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2004 Athens |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Karate
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Tokyo |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Rowing
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Montreal |
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 1988 Seoul |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2000 Sydney |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2004 Athens |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2008 Beijing |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
Shooting
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 Tokyo |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 1988 Seoul |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 1992 Barcelona |
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2000 Sydney |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2004 Athens |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2020 Tokyo |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 |
Swimming
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Seoul |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Taekwondo
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Paris |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Tennis
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Seoul |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Volleyball
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 Moscow |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Weightlifting
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 Munich |
3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 1976 Montreal |
2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 1980 Moscow |
2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 1988 Seoul |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 1992 Barcelona |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2000 Sydney |
1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2004 Athens |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2012 London |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 Paris |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 13 | 17 | 9 | 39 |
Wrestling
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 Melbourne |
1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 1960 Rome |
1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 1964 Tokyo |
3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 1968 Mexico City |
2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 1972 Munich |
2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 1976 Montreal |
1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 1980 Moscow |
3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 1988 Seoul |
1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 1992 Barcelona |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1996 Atlanta |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2000 Sydney |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2004 Athens |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2008 Beijing |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 2012 London |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 Tokyo |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2024 Paris |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 18 | 32 | 23 | 73 |
Winter Olympics
editBiathlon
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 Nagano |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2002 Salt Lake City |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Cross-country skiing
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 Lake Placid |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Short track speed skating
edit| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 Salt Lake City |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2006 Turin |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Bulgarian Olympic Flag Bearers
editSee also
editExternal links
edit- "Bulgaria". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021.
- "Bulgaria". Olympedia.com.
- "Olympic Analytics/BUL". olympanalyt.com.