site.btaBTA to Announce Winner of Its 2024 Balkan Athlete of the Year Poll

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is announcing Friday the winner of its Balkan Athlete of the Year annual poll. The event is scheduled to take place at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia. It will be the 51st edition of the award ceremony. After the ceremony on Friday, BTA will sign a media partnership agreement with the Association of Bulgarian Sports Federations. 

The Balkan Athlete of the Year poll was conducted by BTA among the national news agencies in the Balkan countries: Agerpres (Romania), Anadolu Agency (Turkiye), ANA-MPA (Greece), ATA (Albania), FENA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), HINA (Croatia), MIA (North Macedonia), MINA (Montenegro), Tanjug (Serbia), KosovaPress (Kosovo), CNA (Cyprus), and BTA (Bulgaria).

The first Balkan Athlete ceremony was held on December 27, 1973, and the winner was Bulgarian 800 m runner Svetla Zlateva. The 2023 winner was Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic. 

Djokovic is the athlete with the record number of wins in the BTA poll.

From the first edition in 1973 to last year, Bulgarian athletes have been winners 24 times. Stefka Kostadinova has the most wins among them: 5. 

Following is the Top 10 in the BTA's Balkan Athlete of the Year poll for 2024 (in alphabetical order):  

Apostolos Christou (Greece) - swimming

Barbara Matic (Croatia) - judo

David Popovici (Romania) - swimming  

Dusan Mandic (Serbia) - water polo

CARLOS NASAR (BULGARIA) - weightlifting

Kostas Sloukas (GREECE) - basketball

Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece) - athletics

Nikola Jokic (Serbia) - basketball

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - tennis

Yusuf Dikec (Turkiye) - shooting  

All the winners, 1973 to 2023:

1973: Svetla Zlateva (Bulgaria), athletics

1974: Mate Parlov (Yugoslavia), boxing  

1975: Nadia Comaneci (Romania), gymnastics

1976: Nadia Comaneci (Romania), gymnastics

1977: Totka Petrova (Bulgaria), athletics

1978: Milos Srejovic (Yugoslavia), athletics

1979: Yanko Rusev (Bulgaria), weightlifting

1980: Nadia Comaneci (Romania), gymnastics

1981: Antoaneta Todorova (Bulgaria), athletics

1982: Blagoy Blagoev (Bulgaria), weightlifting

1983: Dilyana Georgieva (Bulgaria), rhythmic gymnastics

1984: Lyudmila Andonova (Bulgaria), athletics

1985: Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria), athletics

1986: Yordanka Donkova (Bulgaria), athletics

1987: Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria), athletics

1988: Daniela Sullivash (Romania), gymnastics

1989: Paula Ivan (Romania), athletics

1990: Monica Seles (Yugoslavia), tennis

1991: Monica Seles (Yugoslavia), tennis

1992: Paraskevi Patoulidou (Greece), athletics

1993: Ivan Ivanov (Bulgaria), weightlifting

1994: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), football

1995: Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria), athletics

1996: Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria), athletics

1997: Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria), athletics

1998: Ekaterina Dafovska (Bulgaria)

1999: Gabriela Szabo (Romania), athletics

2000: Konstantinos Kenteris (Greece), athletics

2001: Konstantinos Kenteris (Greece), athletics

2002: Georgi Markov (Bulgaria), weightlifting

2003: Yordan Yovchev (Bulgaria), gymnastics

2004: Maria Grozdeva (Bulgaria), shooting sports

2005: Marian Dragulescu (Romania), sports gymnastics

2006: Vanya Stambolova (Bulgaria), athletics

2007: Rumyana Neykova (Bulgaria), rowing

2008: Constantina Tomescu (Romania), athletics

2009: Vasilis Spanoulis (Greece), basketball

2010: Stanka Zlateva (Bulgaria), wrestling

2011: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2012: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2013: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2014: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2015: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2016: Sandra Perkovic (Croatia), athletics

2017: Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria), tennis  

2018: Luka Modric (Croatia), football

2019: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2020: not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic

2021: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis

2022: David Popovici (Romania), swimming

2023: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), tennis.