Swimming is one of the most ancient and attractive sports which makes the human body beautiful and gives lots of energy and vitality to those who practice this type of sport. The earliest proofs of the love towards swimming are the rock paintings, which date back to 4000 BC. The first written proof dates back to 36 years BC where swimming contests between samurai took place in Japan. Again, in the country of the “rising sun” in 1603 the first national swimming association was established. Swimming was among the sports during the first Olympic Games in 1896. However, only men took place in this sport in 4 major disciplines. Women made their first debut in 1912 during the Olympics in Stockholm.
The start of the swimming as a sport discipline in Bulgaria was given on September 28, 1931, when the Dianabad swimming center in Sofia hosted the Balkan Swimming Championship with the participation of Bulgaria and Greece. Then came the 21st century, when the great Bulgarian swimming champion Patar Stoychev appeared on the sport stage.
Stoychev started to practice swimming at the age of 6 in the town of Smolyan, under the guidance of his first coaches Evelina Georgieva and Ognyan Georgiev. This little boy from the Rhodope Mountains was not even dreaming that 30 years later he will become the ruler of the open waters. In his own words he swam over 60 000 kilometers in pools, rivers, lakes, oceans and seas. He is the winner of the marathon swimming world cup in 11 consecutive years, from 2001 until 2011. This is an achievement which is not typical for any other sport discipline. After he won the world cup at the 25 kilometers marathon swimming in Shanghai in 2011 and the European title in the same discipline a month ago in Italy, Petar Stoychev proved again that he is the biggest name in the history of marathon swimming.
We should add to his incredible achievements the fact that in 2007, Petar Stoychev was the first swimmer who swam across the English Channel (La Manche) for less than 7 hours. He stopped the clock at 6:57:50 there. His record was beaten a month ago by the Australian swimmer Trent Grimsey. On this occasion Petar Stoychev said that he will try to beat this record again. Petar Stoychev made his first international success in 1992, when the 16 year old swimmer took part in the European Junior Swimming Championships. In 1992 he placed 4th at the 400 meter free style, 5th at the 1500 meter discipline and 3rd at the 400 meter one. He set a national record at the 1500 meter swimming. Then, in the same year he made his debut appearance at the annual Ohrid Swimming Marathon in Macedonia, where he placed 2nd. Then Stoychev realized that his strength was in the marathon distances. At the European Championships in Austria in 1995 he managed to place 6th at the 5 kilometer swimming race. He placed 12th at the 25 kilometer one. Then he slowly gave up swimming in the warm and luxurious pools and started to swim it the open waters marathon organized by the International Swimming Federation( FINA). The races in this discipline are at distances from 15 to 88 kilometers and temperature of the water between 16°C and 31°C. They take place in open waters- rivers, seas, oceans and lakes, where Petar Stoychev won all his 11 world titles and over 60 victories from individual swimming contests.
© Photo: www.petarstoychev.com
Along with his multiple participations in marathon swimming Petar Stoychev took part in 4 Olympic Games- in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, where he placed 6th at the 10 kilometers discipline in open waters, and London 2012. In Beijing Stoychev was Bulgaria’s flag bearer at the official opening. Another proof for his great talent is the fact that in 2009 he was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, USA. In the same year he was voted the best swimmer in the word in the voting organized by the website of the World Open Water Swimming Association. However, Petar Stoychev is not only a great swimmer, but a wonderful person as well. He always finds time to participate in major causes, which are of great importance for the society. The great champion takes active part in the popularization of swimming as an important social phenomenon. He makes frequent meetings with children and supports the UNICEF initiatives through the charity campaign “benefactor”. The swimmer also takes part in the campaign against child obesity and is among those who proclaim the idea for “Bulgaria- free of genetically modified organisms”. In other words he is a big champion and a great man!
English version; Kostadin Atanasov
По публикацията работи: Wilhelm Baltadzian
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