The World Championships in Athletics in South Korea – is Bulgarian athletics being re-born?

published on 9/2/11 12:13 PM

Nowadays Ivet Lalova and Vania Stambolova may not have the achievements of Yordanka Donkova and Stefka Kostadinova, but many fans see them as the people, who make first attempts to restore the fame of Bulgarian athletes.

Photo: archive

Vania Stambolova and Ivet Lalova reached the final series of the 2011 World Championship in Athletics, held in Daegu, South Korea. Lalova finished 7th at the 100 m sprint, while Stambolova remained 6th at the 400 m hurdles.
Bulgaria has been more successful over the years. There are two world records, set in the 1980s that belong to Bulgarian female athletes. These are Yordanka Donkova – world record of 12.21 sec. at 100 m hurdles and the current President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee Stefka Kostadinova. Back in 1987 in Rome Mrs. Kostadinova set a world record with her 209 cm at the high jump. The previous record of 194 cm belonged also to a Bulgarian female athlete – Yordanka Blagoeva. Bulgarian athletics has six Olympic titles in its archive – Viktor Apostolov at hammer throwing, Ivanka Hristova at shot put, Hristo Markov at triple jump, Yordanka Donkova at 100 m hurdles, Stefka Kostadinova at high jump and Tereza Marinova at triple jump. The two world titles of Hristo Markov and other prestigious victories of Stefka Kostadinova and Tereza Marinova should be added, along with those of another 80s 100 m hurdles star Ginka Zagorcheva.
However, these are only memories. Actually only Ivet Lalova and Vania Stambolova try to restore some of the previous fame of our athletics. That is why we should pay attention to their achievements. Practically the 7th position of Ivet Lalova at the 100 m sprint in South Korea is a serious success. Our girl was the only European and white female that qualified for the sprint finals with her 11.27 seconds. Carmelita Jeter from the USA finished 1st with 10.91 sec. Veronica Campbell-Brown from Jamaica remained second with 10.97 sec., while Kelly-Ann Baptiste took the third position with 10.98 seconds.
It is a success for Ivet, since she was seriously injured in 2005, which cost almost two years from her career. Only one year earlier, in 2004 in Athens Lalova won the 4th position at 100 m and the 5th at 200 m. In the winter of 2005 she became European champion at 200 m indoors with a new national record of 22.91 sec. Then in the beginning of the summer Ivet broke her femur after a collision with another competitor during a warm-up.
However, the girl didn’t give up and on May 29 2007 she returned back in the field in Belgrade, where she won the 100 m sprint with 11.26 sec.
The 6th place of Vania Stambolova in Daegu at the finals of the 400 m hurdles is the best achievement of Bulgarian athletics in the area. Lashinda Demus from the USA finished 1st, while Jamaican Melaine Walker and Russian Natalya Antuh took the silver and the bronze.
Stambolova became a champion at the European Championships in 2006 and that was practically the last gold medal at that level for Bulgaria.
To conclude, our athletes did their best in Daegu, although they didn’t bring any medals.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

По публикацията работи: Vilhelm Baltadzhian

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The World Championships in Athletics in South Korea – is Bulgarian athletics being re-born?

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