A woeful year with few exceptions - this was 2007 for Bulgarian sport. The number of tragic accidents equalled the world titles won and in between, a hat trick of doping cases.

In terms of results, everything was seen through the prism of the 2008 Olympics. The four world titles and five European ones in Olympic sports were the proof.

In March, figure skating dance pair Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviiski won their second straight world crown in Tokyo. September served up the other three world victories. Ivan Stoitsov (22) clinched the gold medal in the men’s 77kg category at the weightlifting championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand. That came as a fast result of a coup in the federation and warming of relations with the international governing body.

In wrestling, another 22-year-old, Yavor Yanakiev won gold in Greco-Roman style 74kg in Baku. He became the 19th Bulgarian world champion in history at this style while the gold is 31st. In the freestyle, Bulgaria had another 14 champions and 2007 added one gold to a total of 25. The invincible Stanka Zlateva defended her European and world titles in the 72kg freestyle category, sending a strong warning to the Olympic opposition. Zlateva, born on March 1 1983, won her first world title in Guangzhou, China in 2006. Her first European gold came in Moscow in 2006, after a bronze in Varna, Bulgaria, in 2005.

The volleyball men’s team grabbed a ticket to Beijing 2008 by finishing third at the World Cup in Japan with a strong nine wins, two losses record over an exhausting 14 days. This achievement was rated at least equal to the Zlateva’s double. The last time Bulgarian volley team took part at the Olympics was in Atlanta 1996 with a seventh place finish.

In contrast to volleyball, the national basketball team failed to reach the additional qualifiers for Euro 2007. The Basketball Federation reaction was to hire Pini Gershon, who had been highly successful at European club level, in December which gave some hope of better results in 2008 in the light of the qualifiers for EuroBasket 2009.
The women’s volley and basket teams could not reach anything significant.

Football was a similar story. Traditionally, any football failure causes plenty of pain and drama in Bulgaria. The national team had a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign under three coaches. Football legend Hristo Stoichkov resigned after a goalless draw at home to Albania. Levski football club coach Stanimir Stoilov took over for two games against Belarus. With its third coach for the year, Dimitar Penev, Bulgaria finished the qualifiers in third place, behind Romania and The Netherlands. For the World Cup 2010 qualifiers, Bulgaria was drawn in a group alongside world champion Italy, Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro. All that the team needs is a head coach again, with only Penev applying.

The country’s top clubs Levski, CSKA, Lokomotiv Sofia and Litex also failed to impress, dropping out of the European competitions at the early stages.

Sadly 2007 was not all about sport results.

A series of deadly accidents involving sports people marked the year. World ice dance champion Maxim Staviiski was charged with drunk driving and causing a fatal crash near Bourgas on the Black Sea. On August 5, the 30-year-old Russia-born skater veered into oncoming traffic and hit a vehicle, leading to the death of one person and putting 18-year-old Manuela Gorsova into a coma. In June, basketball lost controversial businessmen Emil Cohen and Vladimir Fedyaev, CSKA’s sponsors and national women team’s managers. They died in an road accident in France. Hours later Levski-Siconco volleyball team manager Georgi Zaharinov lost his life on the road from Varna to Sofia. In October, the vice-president of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation Mitko Ivanov died after falling head-first from the roof of his restaurant in Sofia. Alexander Tasev, president of Locomotiv Plovdiv football club, was shot dead in his luxury black Mercedes on May 14 in Sofia’s Boyana neighborhood. Cherry exporter Tasev was the third president of Locomotiv Plovdiv to have died violently.

Doping was also on the list of Bulgarian sport in 2007. In January, track and field stars Vania Stambolova and Venelina Veneva tested positive for high testosterone levels following no-advance-notice, out-of-competition doping controls. Veneva also provided a further positive sample while tested on February 6 in Sofia. Bulgarian Athletics Federation refused to ban Stambolova and Veneva because of controversial evidence and the case went to Court Arbitration for Sports. In October, middle distance runner Teodora Kolarova tested positive for testosterone and was immediately banned for two years. All three athletes had the same coach, Georgi Dimitrov, who denied any guilt.
Some important sports for Bulgaria showed signs of deep crisis. The boxing team returned empty-handed from the world championship in Chicago. The biathlon federation delayed the integration of next generation and this year 80 per cent of the strong women’s team was out. The young replacements were inexperienced and far from ready.

The men’s tennis team was relegated to the third division of Euro-African zone while the women’s team in the Fed Cup will be boosted by the return of Sesil Karatancheva after a two-year doping ban. Swimming, which forgot the taste of success in the pool long ago, had something to cheer in 2007. Petar Stoychev won the Open Water World Championship for the seventh time and also became the fastest person to swim across the English Channel in a time of 6 hours and 57min. The 31-year-old wants to try his power once again in an Olympic discipline and hopes to finish his career on a high note in the Beijing pool. In general, Bulgarian sport should be happy to leave 2007 behind and faces 2008 with big Olympic and football hopes.