“Despite several individual successes, Bulgarian sport registered serious regress compared to the previous Olympic Games,” State Agency for Youth and Sport (SAYS) chairperson Vessela Lecheva told private broadcaster bTV.

The reason for the small medal haul was a combination of problems, whose resolution had been postponed for a long time, she said. Bulgarian sport’s main problem was the cumbersome organisational structure and inadequate sports facilities.

There was no problem in the communication between SAYS and the sports clubs, but everything in the country was being done "extremely slowly", she said.

“At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bulgaria showed the best it had in the moment,” according to Lecheva.