The Youth Olympic Games aim at promoting the Olympic spirit and sportsmanship as well as at encouraging sports activity among young people. The second edition of the event which was held in the Chinese city of Nanjing gathered many young people from all over the globe. The young athletes competed in 28 sport disciplines in order to show that the Olympic spirit continues to draw people closer.

Bulgaria participated at the youth Olympics with 27 athletes in 14 sport disciplines. During the first edition of the Youth Olympics 4 years ago the country won two gold and a bronze medal. This summer, however the big sports achievements of Bulgaria’s young athletes surprised nicely all sport fans and experts who have forgotten over the past years that Bulgaria has strong traditions on all big sports forums, including the Olympic Games. The successful performance of the young Bulgarian athletes brings lots of optimism about the future of Bulgarian sports.

Betina Temelkova won the first medal for Bulgaria at this year’s Youth Olympics. She won a silver medal in the 52 kilogram category Judo competition. Bozhidar Andreev brought the first gold medal for Bulgaria, after he won the title in the 69 kilogram weightlifting competition with a total result of 300 kilograms. Lidia Nencheva won the second gold medal for this country in Nanjing. She won the title in the 10 meter Air Pistol Mixed International Teams event. The third gold medal was won by 18 year-old boxer Blagoy Naydenov in the 81 kilogram category. Bulgarian boxer Dushko Mihailov won silver medal at the boxing ring in the 56 kilograms category. Seventeen year-old Kiril Milov won a silver medal in the 85 kilograms category - Greco Roman wrestling style.

Bulgaria has also strong traditions in Rhythmic gymnastics and this country’s young gymnasts’ performance was a proof to that end. Elena Bineva, Alexandra Mitrovich, Emilia Radicheva, Sofia Rangelova and Gabriela Stefanova won a silver medal with a score of 27.050 points. The gold went to the Russian team which collected a total of 29.550 points and the bronze went to Kazakhstan which earned a total of 25.050 points.

Thus, Bulgaria won a total of seven medals at the second Youth Olympics. The nation is happy with the successful performance of its sports talents. The next Youth Olympic Games will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018, where the expectations towards the Bulgarian athletes will be even higher. Against the backdrop of prevailing skepticism about the development of Bulgarian sports, the medals brought by the young Bulgarian athletes are of a still higher significance, because they show that the future of Bulgarian sports is not as gloomy, as we are inclined to think. Moreover, the medals come from traditionally successful disciplines. The medals won in Nanjing also show that the road to world sports achievements goes through the development of children’s and teenage sports.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov