For many Bulgarians, the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver will go down as one of the biggest disappointments in the country’s sporting history. Not a single medal was won by Bulgarian athletes.

This poor result came 12 years after Ekaterina Dafovska won a gold medal in the women’s biathlon event at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. This, to date, remains the greatest achievement of Bulgarian winter sport athletes.

Much can happen in 12 years in a sport where it takes years of training, sacrifices and effort to even think of competing with the world’s best. In this respect biathlon in Bulgaria is somewhere in the middle with new generations beginning to break through, as noted by Ventsislav Iliev, sports director at the Bulgarian Biathlon Federation (BBF).       

Strong athletes, such as Dafovska and Irina Nikulchina, however, figures who brought so much joy to Bulgarians, are no longer competing at Olympic and World Cup events, having swapped sport for motherhood. Another of this generation’s big names, Pavlina Filipova, also decided to leave the sport at the end of last season. As a result, younger athletes have entered the field over the past six or seven years. Unfortunately, these new replacements are still unfit to compete at Olympic level, Iliev says.

Inevitably, this has taken its toll on this country’s athletes who have fallen sharply in the rankings. Still, the only way from here is up, so Bulgaria’s hopes are pinned on some of its promising newcomers. These are Emilia Yordanova, Desislava Stoyanova and Nia Dimitrova. Dafinka Koeva, in the junior category, is also showing great potential and has won the right to compete in World Cup events. Bulgarian male biathlon athletes, overshadowed in the past 12 years by the likes of Dafovska and her peers, are also showing signs of progress.   

Still, sport is all about results and the poor showing of Bulgarian biathlon athletes in Vancouver cannot be forgotten.  "In Vancouver, our hopes and expectations did not match the results," Iliev says. Krassimir Anev’s and Mihail Klecharov’s achievements in Vancouver could be described as satisfactory, or even good, but expectations were higher. Anev ranked 25th in both the men’s 10km sprint and the 20km individual events. Klecharov ranked 44th in the men’s 12.5km pursuit followed by Anev and the Bulgarian team came 16th in the men’s 4x7.5km relay.

Good progress was achieved by Nina Kadeva who in 2009 found a place among the first 50 athletes in the sprint World Cup event but she had the misfortune to miss the target in the shooting contest, so losing a medal in Vancouver.

The main reason why the current generation of athletes has problems matching their predecessors is the selection process, Iliev says. He believes it is extremely important to build up a collaborative system connecting clubs with the national team. Unfortunately, many athletes currently receive different training methods from those needed to succeed nationally. Competition is also vital, says Iliev, but this should be between athletes, not clubs. This lack of co-operation currently hinders the main goal – building up athletes to compete nationally.

Facilities
Having top-level facilities is essential for developing a sport and biathlon is no exception. This also means providing facilities to allow the hosting of international sport events, so helping the development of the country’s winter resorts.

For the first time this year, Bulgaria’s famed mountain resort, Bansko in Pirin mountain, will host the World Cup in summer biathlon, Iliev says.    

As part of the attempt to turn Bansko into a world class biathlon destination, two bridges on the biathlon course are close to completion and work on finishing the roll ban is underway, he says. According to Bansko city hall, which is behind the entire organisation, everything will be completed by June.

Many athletes who have tried the course have given positive feedback, Iliev said. All that remains to be built is a functional premise next to the shooting ground. This would be the last step in granting Bansko a Licence A. It will allow Bansko and Bulgaria to host World Cup and World Championship events.

The project to construct the biathlon facilities was launched in 2006 on a design by the BBF and the main concessionaire,  Ulen who, together with BBF and Bansko city hall, are backing the project financially. Bansko had its first experience of hosting an international biathlon event in 2007, when it held the European open biathlon championship.

Funding
As in almost all spheres of life, securing funding during a world economic crisis is one of Bulgarian biathlon’s main challenges, Iliev says. Lack of interest among sponsors also exacerbates the problem. Part of the reason is that sponsors are attracted by big names and these currently cannot be provided by Bulgarian biathlon.

Although the state contributes a lot to the sport, about 40 per cent of the funding is supposed to come from private sponsors. Sadly, according to Iliev, this is not currently forthcoming, thus undermining the quality of work and leading to poor motivation.