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Successful Bulgarians 2020 – Part 2:

Five Bulgarians with exceptional achievements in the year marked by Covid-19

Photo: Ani Petrova/BNR

In the year that drew a curtain on public activities, many Bulgarians managed to assert themselves through outstanding achievements - a world record in swimming, a story about the world around us through the photographic lens, a balance of a musical career in the language of several different arts, decorative ornaments of oriental houses and palaces, entry into the top 100 of the best dentists in the world.

On the Saturday evening of August 22nd, Tsanko Tsankov came out of the swimming pool of the Burgas complex "Flora" as the first person in the world to swim the fastest within the space of 12 hours in a 50-metre pool.


He started his marathon swim at 7.30 am and half a day later stopped the electronic counting of 50 km and 600 m. And when he looked at the illuminated board, he realized that the record of 41.2 km of the Slovenian long-distance swimmer Martin Strel has been surpassed. Tsanko believes that there are no limits to human capabilities.

Read more about the historic record of the swimming champion in Radio Bulgaria’s publication "Tsanko Tsankov - the world swimming record holder with an indomitable spirit".

Stoyan Yorgov chooses to present himself to the Bulgarian audience with the colours of the white-black gamut - that special light, from which the hot desert air trembles before your eyes and your skin shivers from the salty coolness of the ocean water.


The Bulgarian photographer has been living in Los Angeles for 26 years. At the age of 31, he clashed with the Bulgarian totalitarian system and soon jumped over the fence on the border between the United States and Mexico. An artist by education and world view, he looks like in a kaleidoscope at a picture suggested to him by chance.

Get to know this Bulgarian artist through Radio Bulgaria’s publication "Stoyan Yorgov - the collector of stories who sees the world through a photo lens".

Vasko Vassilev appeared in front of an audience for the first time at the age of ten, and the critics declared him a child prodigy.


During 2020 one of the most charismatic violinists on the contemporary music scene celebrated his 50th anniversary. On his birthday, October 14, he played in front of an audience in his native Sofia and presented a book of photographs and a biographical film. "I want to return to the halls where people are safe, to return to normal life," says Vasko Vassilev, admitting that he misses the contact with the audience and other musicians the most.

Read Radio Bulgaria’s interview with the concertmaster of the Royal Opera in London in the publication “Vasko Vassilev at 50: I love the audience and my fellow musicians, I dream of returning to the concert halls!”

Demanded for her unique skills and exclusive style, Diana Foteva decorates houses and palaces in the United Arab Emirates, turning them into beautiful places to live. A TV movie about Dubai gives direction to her destiny.


"I decided that this was the place for my successful career path and an opportunity soon arrived - I came here and worked for a famous Italian decorator, and later I came back and founded my own company," she says. First she received orders for walls and ceilings with gilding, and today she decorates luxury hotels and can boast of participating in a project of the world-famous architect Zaha Hadid.

How Diana Foteva decorated the sheikh's hunting farm and whether life in the Middle East is like life in the fairy tales of a thousand and one nights – more in Radio Bullgaria’s publication "Bulgarian Diana Foteva decorates palaces in Dubai".

With the understanding that his profession makes dreams come true, changes destinies and creates a future, Dr. Ventseslav Stankov makes people smile widely.


And because he uses the latest technologies of aesthetic dentistry and is not afraid to cross borders that his colleagues refuse to cross, the Plovdiv-born dentist entered the top 100 in the world in the ranking of the Global Summit Institute. The dentist is in demand around the world mainly for his achievements in periodontology and implantology. But the biggest reason he was included in this prestigious ranking, according to him, is that he works with a microscope and practices microsurgery - with a focus on detail.

You can learn where the secret of a Hollywood smile lies from Radio Bulgaria’s publication “Dr. Ventseslav Stankov from Bulgaria on the 2020 World's Top 100 Doctors in Dentistry list.”

Photos: BNR, BТА, facebook.com/Vasko-Vassilev, private library, facebook.com/dr.ventseslavstankov



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