Boriana Stoyanova

Boriana Stoyanova (Bulgarian: Боряна Стоянова, born 3 November 1969) is a Bulgarian retired artistic gymnast. She was the 1983 World Champion on the vault, making her the first Bulgarian woman to win a World title, and represented Bulgaria at the 1984 Friendship Games (Oloumouc) and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Stoyanova was born in Sofia. In 1990, she married a fellow gymnastics coach, Georgi Kazakov, and had a son also named Georgi. They divorced in 1995. Stoyanova said that she didn't want her son to compete in gymnastics due to "difficulties in this sport".^[1]

In 1982, Stoyanova competed at the Moscow News Prize tournament, where she won the all-around silver medal and gold on the balance beam. She was the first non-Soviet gymnast to win an all-around medal at the tournament, and she and Ri-chol Hon were awarded prizes for best performances by foreign gymnasts.^[2]

In 1983, Stoyanova competed at the European Championships, where she won a bronze on floor and tied for bronze on vault with Lavinia Agache.^[3] Later in the year, at the World Championships, she placed fourth in the all-around. She won bronze in the floor exercise and gold in the vault final; this was the first time a Bulgarian woman had won a title at the World Championships.^[1]

In 1984, due to the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott, Stoyanova competed at the alternative Friendship Games. The Bulgarian women's team placed fourth in the team event. Stoyanova was 7th in the all-around and reached three of the event finals, only missing the balance beam final.^[4]

In 1985, Stoyanova competed at the 1985 World Championships, where she finished 11th in the all-around.^[1] In the vault final, she was 5th.^[5] The next year, at the 1986 World Cup, she placed 6th in the all-around and reached every event final.^[1][6]

She competed at the 1987 European Championships, where she placed 6th in the all-around and reached three event finals, with her best result being 4th on floor.^[7] Later that year, she was 10th in the all-around at the 1987 World Championships and again finished the vault final in 5th place.^[1][8]

Her last competition was the 1988 Summer Olympics, where she finished in 13th place in the all-around and fourth in the vault final.^[1][9] After the Olympics, Stoyanova began to coach at the CSKA club, although she stopped by 2002.^[1] She attended the opening of the 2019 Bulgarian championships, where she and other gymnasts such as Stoyan Deltchev were recognized for their achievements.^[10]

^[11]

• Boriana Stoyanova at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Boryana Stoyanova at Olympics.com
• Boryana Stoyanova at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)