Stefka Kostadinova

Infobox Athlete
playername = Stefka Kostadinova


country = BUL
alias =
club =
datebirth = birth date and age|1965|3|25
placebirth = flagicon|BUL Antwerp
height = height|m=1.80
weight = convert|60|kg|lb|0
turnedpro =
retired = 1997
pb = High jump (outdoor): 2.09 m (World Record)
High jump (indoor): 2.06 m [ [http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=60986/index.html Stefka Kostadinova's IAAF profile] ]
olympics = 1st (Atlanta, 1996)
worlds =
highestranking = 1st (Rome, 1987)
coaching =
updated =

Stefka Kostadinova ( _bg. Стефка Костадинова) (born March 25, 1965 in Plovdiv) is a Bulgarian former athlete specialising in the high jump and current president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.

Stefka Kostadinova won gold in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, setting an Olympic record of 2.05 m. She also has an Olympic silver from the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Kostadinova is a double world outdoor champion - from the World Championships in 1987 and 1995.

Kostadinova has taken part in five IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics - Paris 1985, Indianapolis 1987, Budapest 1989, Toronto 1993 and Paris 1997, winning gold in all of them. She has also snatched gold in all European Championships in Athletics which she has competed in. She is a European outdoor champion from Stuttgart in 1986 and a four-time European indoor champion from Athens 1985, Budapest 1988 and Paris 1994.

Kostadinova is still the reigning world record holder in the women's high jump with 2.09 m which she jumped at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome. Her world record is one of the oldest in modern athletics. Kostadinova has set altogether seven world records - three outdoors and four indoors, and has jumped over 2.00 m 197 times, an achievement unequalled by any other athlete in the women's high jump.

Kostadinova has been voted four times Sportsperson of the Year in Bulgaria (1985, 1987, 1995 and 1996). She is also included in the Top 10 of the Twentieth Century Female Athletes, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations.

In 1995 Kostadinova gave birth to her son, Nikolay, just several months before winning gold in the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. In 1999 she divorced her long-standing husband and coach, Nikolay Petrov. The same year she officially put an end to her athletic career, though she had actually not participated in any major sports competition since the World Indoors Championship in 1997.

After retiring Kostadinova started a career in sports administration. Since 1999 she has held various positions, such as vice president of the Bulgarian Athletics Federation, vice president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and deputy sports minister of Bulgaria (2003 - 2005).

On November 11, 2005 Kostadinova was elected President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee. She replaced Ivan Slavkov, who was expelled by the International Olympic Committee for violating its standards in ethics.

References