Bulgaria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. It was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, having missed the Olympics on three occasions, including the 1948 Summer Olympics in London due to the nation's role in World War II and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the Soviet boycott. Despite this being London's third Olympic Games, this was the first time a Bulgarian team appeared at a London Olympics. The Bulgarian Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games, tying the record with Helsinki in 1952, and with Tokyo in 1964. A total of 63 athletes, 36 men and 27 women, competed in 16 sports. Men's volleyball was the only team event in which Bulgaria was represented in these Olympic games. There was only a single competitor in badminton, sprint canoeing, fencing, and judo.
The Bulgarian team featured three Olympic medalists from Beijing in freestyle wrestling: Stanka Zlateva, who won the silver, Radoslav Velikov and Kiril Terziev, who both won the bronze. Among these medalists, only Zlateva managed to repeat her silver medal in London, losing out to Russia's Natalia Vorobieva in the final match. Two Bulgarian athletes, on the other hand, made their sixth Olympic appearance: pistol shooter, two-time gold medalist, and former Olympic record holder Maria Grozdeva, and rings gymnast and multiple-time Olympic medalist Yordan Yovchev, who was also the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.[1]
Bulgaria, however, failed to win the gold medal for the first time since 1952, after achieving poor athletic performance at these Olympic games.[2] Only three medals were awarded to the athletes, including the bronze medal won by heavyweight boxer Tervel Pulev.
Bulgarian athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard):[3][4]
In May 2012, the Bulgarian athletics federation announced a two-year ban for Inna Eftimova after testing positive for somatotropin at the World Championships held in August 2011 in Daegu, South Korea. As a consequence of the ban she will miss the 2012 London Olympics.
Key
Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
Bulgarian swimmers have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):[7][8]
Bulgaria did not participate in 1984 due to a boycott.
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