Bulgaria Blows Away European Bodybuilding Championship with 4 Gold Medals

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (left) awards the absolute champion in the European Bodybuilding Championship in Sofia, Hristomir Hristov. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria ended second in the overall ranking of the European Bodybuilding Championship in Sofia, scoring a total of four gold medals.

Russia triumphed with the largest number of medals at the European Bodybuilding Championship in Sofia, while Turkey came in third after Bulgaria.

The impressive performance for the Bulgarian bodybuilders at IFBB's first big competition for 2011 was completed with one silver medal, two bronze medals, and third fourth places.

Bulgaria's most successful bodybuilder of all time, Hristomir Hristov, won the gold in the 80 kg category, and then went on to triumph with the absolute champion title, the highest prize of the European Bodybuilding Championship.

He was awarded personally by Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, a politician with the reputation of a tough guy, with a check for BGN 50 000.

Three other Bulgarian bodybuilders won gold – Tsvetan Tsvetanov – in the 65 kg category, Gyunai Mustafa – in the 70 kg category, and Konstantin Paskalev in the classic bodybuilding, in the 171 cm category (in classic bodybuilding the categories are based on height).

"Our boys did a great job, they put enormous efforts into winning these gold medals," Bulgarian PM Borisov said at the award ceremony.

He pointed out that before the competition, the contestants eat very little and drink some 25-40 liters of water a day.

Borisov said that Bulgaria will be able to host world bodybuilding championships once the National Sports Arena in Sofia is completed in June, 2011. The 2011 European Bodybuilding Championship was hosted by the National Palace Culture, Hall 1, with a capacity to fit an audience of 4 000.

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