During an official ceremony held at the National Arts Gallery in Sofia, on November 19, Vessela Lecheva, head of National Agency for Youth and Sport (NAYS) awarded the Bulgarian Olympic delegation the cumulative sum of 2883 000 leva for their accomplishments in Beijing 2008. The funds were made available by NAYS and were allocated to all the participants, managing and coaching staff, medical teams, physiologists, armourers, advisors and other officials who constituted the Bulgarian Olympic task force in China.

On average, the financial rewards were in the frame of 25 000 leva, as distributed to most athletes who did not qualify in the top 10 (or in some cases the top five) in their discipline, their personal trainers and assistance trainers.

More generous financial compensation was given to staff and head coaches who received from 55 000 leva up to 100 000 leva in bonuses. Surprisingly, for medical staff and other highly specialised personnel, such as masseurs, physicians, personal assistants and trainers and personal technicians or armourers (sports shooting and archery) the payments were significantly lower, between 9500 leva and 15 000 leva.

Naturally, the highest payments were awarded to the select group of medallists. Bronze medallists in freestyle wrestling, Radoslav Velikov and Kiril Terziev, secured 100 000 leva each. Also in freestyle wrestling, this time in the women's team, silver medallist Stanka Zlateva received 120 000 leva.

The only gold medal winner for Bulgaria in Beijing 2008, was Rumiana Neikova, who won first place in rowing, netting 140 000 leva in the process. Altogether, 114 people received financial bonuses, the smallest of which was 490 leva.

Aside from fancy speeches and posh receptions, the money received and the awards given, it is no secret that this was the worst Bulgarian performance at the Olympic Games in memory, if not in reality. In fact, you would have to go back exactly half a century to find the previous worst performance for Bulgarian athletes. This was during the Melbourne Games in 1956 when Bulgaria ranked in 40th position. In the 2004 Olympics Bulgaria ranked 33rd with two gold, one silver, and nine bronze medals. At the 29th Summer Olympics in Beijing, Bulgaria stood at 42nd place in the final standings with one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals.