Stoyan Deltchev

Stoyan Deltchev (, born in Plovdiv, July 3, 1959) is a Bulgarian retired artistic gymnast and a European and Olympic champion. He competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, where he won a gold medal in horizontal bar and a bronze medal in the all-around, and he won the all-around at the 1979 European Championships.

Early life Deltchev began gymnastics when he was 10; he initially played football, and his father noticed his athleticism and decided to put him in a more individual sport.

Gymnastics career Deltchev competed at the 1977 European Championships, where he won the gold medal in the horizontal bar final.

The following year, he competed at the 1978 World Championships, where he finished eighth in the all-around and won two bronze medals in the apparatus finals, one in pommel horse and the other with the horizontal bar, where he tied with Gennady Krysin.

In 1979, Deltchev won the all-around at the 1979 European Championships. He was the first man representing a country outside the Soviet Union to win the competition in fourteen years. He also competed at the 1979 World Cup, where he won bronze in the all-around as well as gold on the floor exercise.

Awards and honors In 2008, he was named to the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Personal life He has a daughter, Deliana.

Eponymous skills In an interview about his career in 2002, Deltchev reflected on how he trained many different skills that he was not able to put into his competitive routines, as he was Bulgaria's main gymnast during his career and often traveled to compete. He first succeeded with his eponymous high bar move after watching another gymnast attempt it at his gym; the gymnast's coach encouraged Deltchev to try it, and he managed to regrab the bar on his third attempt. He claimed he invented his eponymous move on the rings by accident after his grip became stuck on the rings. ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficultyRingsDeltchevFelge upward to support with straddled legs supported above the rings (2 seconds)B (0.2)Horizontal barDeltchevSwing forward to ½ twist salto, forward straddle to hangC (0.3) His high bar skill, performed on the uneven bars, is also named for him in the women's Code of Points.