The 21 Winter Olympic Games started in the Canadian city of Vancouver on February 12. Sadly, the opening ceremony was marred by the death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili who was killed in a training accident.

The first events from the Olympic schedule with Bulgarian athletes in them took place.

The best Bulgarian short track speed skater Evgenia Radanova qualified for the quarterfinals in the 500 meters event finishing first in her 8th qualifying heat, clocking in at 45,125 seconds. The other Bulgarian speed skater Marina Georgieva-Nikolova was disqualified from the race for two successive false starts.

Bulgarian biathletes in the 10 km sprint had a very good performance. Two of them qualified for the 12.5 km race. These are Krasimir Anev who finished 25th, and Michail Klecherov who finished 59th. Two more Bulgarian biathletes participated in the race – Miroslav Kenanov who finished 82nd, and Vladimir Iliev - 83rd. In the 7.5 km sprint for women, Nina Klenovska finished 62nd. The winners in both heats were Frenchman Vincent Jay and Slovakian Anastasia Kuzmina.

Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova won the 60 meters sprint at the Indoor Athletics Tournament in Leipzig. In the final heat, Lalova clocked in at 7.24 seconds and won the first place, remaining only 3 hundredths of a second away from her best time in this discipline.

Bulgarian sprinter Vanya Stambolova won the 400-meter sprint at the International Indoor Athletics Tournament in the Hungarian capital Budapest. Stambolova deserved the first place by finishing in 52,01 seconds. The 26-year-old Bulgarian athlete finished only 16 hundredths of a second behind her personal best time for the year in indoor athletics from January 23, which was the second best time for the season in the world.

Silvia Miteva won the gold medal at the ribbon finals at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament in Tartu (Estonia). In the final standings, she was went ahead of Azerbaijani gymnast Alya Garaeva and Russian Yana Lukonina. Bulgarian Miteva is now 5th in the rope finals, 7th in ball, and 8th – in hoop.

The volleyball team of CSKA lost with 1:3 games to Polish “Resovia” in a match from the first round of the Champion’s Volleyball League for men. After very poor play in the first two games, in the third game Bulgarian volleyball players played better and reduced their lag. In the fourth game, the two teams were equal contenders and the game was very heated. At the end of the game, however, the Polish team was more focused and deserved the victory. The return match will be this week in Poland.

“EuroIns Cherno More” basketball team defeated as a host the team of “Rislki Sportist” with 91:90 in a match from the 8th round of the Balkan Basketball League for men. The team of “EvroIns Cherno More” already has 3 wins and 3 losses in Group 1 from the league, and the team of Rilski Sportist suffered the 4th defeat and continues to have 2 wins in its results.
In Group B, the team of Levski defeated Spartak Pleven with 113:82. Thus, Levski became the leader in the group with 6 wins and 2 losses. Spartak Pleven is in the penultimate position with 2 wins and 6 losses.

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova