Bulgaria at the Olympics

Bulgaria first participated at the Olympic Games at the inaugural 1896 Games, with a single gymnast. However, since Charles Champaud was a Swiss national living in Sofia, some sources credit his appearance to Switzerland instead.

Quick Facts Bulgaria at the Olympics, IOC code ...

Bulgaria at the Olympics
IOC code	BUL
NOC	Bulgarian Olympic Committee
Website	www.bgolympic.org (in Bulgarian and English)
Medals Ranked 26th	Gold 58 Silver 91 Bronze 88 Total 237
Summer appearances
1896 1900–1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winter appearances
1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026

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The Bulgarian Olympic Committee was created in 1923 and first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1924. The nation has participated in every Summer Games since then, except for 1932 (during the Great Depression), 1948 (Bulgaria's role in World War II) and 1984 (part of the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics). Bulgaria first participated in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 and has attended every Winter Games since then.

Bulgarian athletes have won a total of 237 medals, with wrestling and weightlifting as the top medal-producing sports. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989–90, in Bulgaria's turbulent transition to free-market democracy, top-notch state support for Bulgarian Olympians disintegrated. Diminishing and marginalized medal returns were evident from the 2012 Summer Olympics, where Bulgaria, a former top-10 Olympic powerhouse in the late 1980s, fell out of its former high stature. Bulgaria's best performance to date has come in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where they finished third in the medal table. In the 1988 Summer Olympics, Bulgaria ranked 7th but won the nation's largest total of gold medals. Bulgaria's most successful Winter Olympics occurred in 1998 when the country ranked 15th in the medal table.