Ivet Goranova wins Bulgaria’s first Olympic gold medal in 13 years
Ivet Goranova won gold for Bulgaria at the Tokyo Summer Olympics on August 5, winning the final bout in the women’s under-55kg karate kumite competition against Ukraine’s Anzhelika Terliuga by five points to one.
Goranova’s gold was the first won by a Bulgarian athlete at the Olympics since rower Roumyana Neikova finished first in the women’s single sculls race at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
Karate is making its debut as an Olympic sport in Tokyo, with Goranova winning the inaugural gold in her weight category and only the third overall Olympic gold in the sport.
This is the fourth medal won by Bulgarian athletes in Tokyo, following the silver won by Antoaneta Kostadinova in the women’s 10m air pistol on July 25, as well as a pair of bronzes won by wrestlers – Taibe Yusein in the women’s freestyle 62kg category on August 4 and Evelina Nikolova in the women’s freestyle 57kg category earlier on August 5.
With Stoika Krusteva set to compete in the final bout for the women’s boxing gold in the 48-51kg category on August 7, Bulgaria is set to at least match the number of medals won in Beijing, when it finished with five – one gold, one silver and three bronze.
At the last two Olympics, Bulgarian athletes won three medals – two silvers and one bronze in London in 2012, followed by one silver and two bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
(Photo: Kostadin Andonov – Start-Photo / Bulgarian Olympic Committee)
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