Ekaterina Dafovska

Bulgaria’s most successful biathlon athlete Ekaterina Dafovska was born on November 28, 1975 in the town of Chepelare, in the Rhodope Mountains. She made her start in biathlon in 1990. In 1998, in Nagano at the Winter Olympic games, the 22-year old Dafovska shocked the world by winning the gold medal, beating the leaders Disl and Akhatova. The only Bulgarian medal of Winter Olympics before that was the bronze of Ivan Lebanov won in 1980. Besides the one-minute penalty for the errant shot Dafovska won the race with perfect run and precise shooting, leaving the Ukraine’s Elena Petrova second, and the famous Ushi Disl third. Dafovska’s victory ranked her among the biathlon leaders and initiated a series of remarkable wins, one of which was the gold in the European championship in Belarus.