Bulgaria sent its athletes for the Special Olympics European Summer Games in Antwerp (Belgium), held September 9 through September 20, with big hopes and its athletes did not let their country down. Over 2,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from 58 European countries joined the competition supported by their families, friends, coaches and some 7,000 volunteers. Bulgaria was represented by 16 athletes aged between 16 and 37 who joined the following competitions: swimming, track-and-field athletics, table tennis, badminton and bocce. The Bulgarian athletes returned from the Special Olympics with a total of 16 medals - 8 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals. The gold medals won by the national bocce team gave a flying start to the performance of the Bulgarian athletes. Bocce is a game played with 8 balls, four balls for each team. The athletes have to throw the balls as close to the target as possible. We learn more details from the press-conference of the National Director of Special Olympics Bulgaria Hristo Hristozov.

“Bocce is a strategic game. Our team plays under the guidance of Bulgarian coach Yana Koleva. The coaches are not allowed to give instructions to the athletes during the bocce competition, unlike in football for example, where you can talk as much as you want, as long as you do not offend the referee. That is why bocce is a very difficult game.”

Hristo Hristozov accentuated on the special success of the Bulgarian relay-race team which placed second: “In relay race the athletes could reach the final without a baton and be disqualified, as it happened with many teams at the latest competition. Unlike the foreign athletes, the Bulgarian athletes showed good skills during the baton exchange as well as a strong team spirit.” Bulgaria’s athletes also marked impressive successes at other disciplines such as badminton, swimming and track-and-field athletics.

The sponsors of the event and the Ministry of Youth and Sports received special words of gratitude. Here is what Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Kalin Kamenov told the talented Bulgarian athletes:

“I must admit that I feel a bit out of place here, bearing in mind that I represent a country which in my view does not make enough efforts to support people with disabilities. I think that we, the country’s politicians, should be ashamed of ourselves. We must talk less and do more. I know well the difficulties all people with special needs face in Bulgaria. Only few of them have the opportunity to be actively engaged in sports and are often ignored by the society and the institutions. Therefore, we have a very long way to go. I wish we were a bit kinder and worked with our hearths and souls, rather that with political ambitions and aspirations alone.”

The Special Olympics Movement was founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver and was recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It allows some 4.2 million people with intellectual disabilities from 170 countries to compete in 32 Olympic disciplines. Bulgaria joined the movement in 1994. After a break, the program was resumed in 2003 and allows Bulgarians with intellectual disabilities to practice 25 types of sports: football, basketball, canoe-kayak, weightlifting, golf, alpine skiing to mention but a few. Today over 6,000 Bulgarian athletes with intellectual disabilities are engaged in sports for at least 2 hours a week in nearly 90 towns and villages. Three Bulgarian Universities - the National Sports Academy Vassil Levski, the St Kliment Ohridski University, both in Sofia and St Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo also participate successfully in the Special Olympics Program. Special Olympics Bulgaria aims at increasing the national quota with 25% in the next edition of the games and to make a successful appearance at the Summer Special Olympics in Los Angeles in 2015.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov