site.btaGreek Long Jump Athlete Miltiadis Tentoglou Wins 51st Edition of BTA's Balkan Athlete of the Year Poll for 2024

Greek long jump athlete Miltiadis Tentoglou won the 51st edition of the BTA Balkan Athlete of the Year poll for 2024 on Friday. The ceremony took place at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia.

Swimmer David Popovici (Romania) and basketball player Nikola Jokic (Serbia) rounded out the top three, while the fourth place was shared by Bulgarian weightlifter Carlos Nasar and Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic.

The national agencies of the countries of the region took part in the traditional poll: BTA (Bulgaria), ANA-MPA (Greece), AGERPRES (Romania), Anadolu Agency (Turkiye), TANJUG (Serbia), MINA (Montenegro), MIA (Republic of North Macedonia), HINA (Croatia), FENA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), KNA (Cyprus), ATA (Albania) and KosovaPress (Kosovo).

Tentoglou, who became Olympic champion, world indoor champion and European long jump champion, collected 61 points. Working under Bulgarian coach Georgi Pomashki, he is the first Greek athlete in 15 years to finish first in the poll. Last time it was basketball player Vasilis Spanoulis in 2009.

Miltiadis Tentoglou is preparing hard in his homeland for the start of the winter season at the end of the month, and BTA Director General Kiril Valchev presented the award to the Director General of the Greek national agency ANA-MPA, Amilios Perdikaris.   

The second place with only 2 points less went to the Olympic and European champion in the 200m freestyle and bronze medallist in the 100m freestyle from Paris 2024 Popovic. The honorary diploma was received on his behalf by the Counsellor at the Romanian Embassy in Sofia Zenovia Popa.

Third with 56 points was Jokic, who was named National Basketball Association (NBA) Most Valuable Player and helped Serbia win bronze at the Paris Olympics. The basketball player's diploma was presented to Serbia's Charge d'Affairs to Bulgaria Zarica Avramovic-Zivkovic.

Nasar and Djokovic had 47 points each.

Bulgarian weightlifter Nasar dominated the 89kg category during the season, and in addition to the Paris 2024 Games title, he became a convincing world and European champion and set world records in the snatch, the clean and jerk and the overall. Nasar was also named the world's best weightlifter of the year.

The Bulgarian was unable to attend the ceremony due to a dental problem, but joined in with a special video address.

"Sports has always been on a pedestal in our region and so it is a great honour for me to line up alongside these big names in sports. It is even better that we are all Balkan and close as a people. For me, 2024 was a great joy, as it was my strongest year, with the most successes, with the most dreams fulfilled, with a high bar set for the future and I hope that in the coming years I will continue in the same spirit, with the same results, as I have not stopped working," said the weightlifter.

Atanas Litkov from his coaching staff received the award on his behalf.

Djokovic, who is the record holder with eight wins in the BTA Balkan Athlete of the Year poll, became Olympic champion in the French capital.

Sixth with 25 points was the Olympic champion in water polo with the Serbian team, the best scorer and the most valuable player (MVP) of the Olympic tournament in Paris - Dušan Mandić. With one point less in seventh is the Olympic and European champion in judo in the category up to 70 kg Barbara Matić (Croatia).

Basketball player Kostas Sloukas (Greece) ranked eighth with 23 points. He won the Euroleague title with Panathinaikos and was named the tournament's Final Four MVP.

Ninth with 22 points was Olympic 200m backstroke vice-champion and European 50m and 100m backstroke champion Apostolos Christou (Greece) and tenth with 21 points was shooting athlete Yusuf Dikeç (Turkiye), Olympic 10m pistol vice-champion in the mixed team event and European team champion in the 10m pistol.

A total of 38 athletes received votes in this year's poll. Of the Bulgarians, Olympic freestyle wrestling champion Magomed Ramazanov placed 13th with 15 points, while Olympic classic wrestling champion Semen Novikov tied for 14th place with 13 points.

Olympic vice-champion in rhythmic gymnastics Boryana Kaleyn and tennis player Grigor Dimitrov shared the 26th position with 7 points each.

Following is the Top 10 for 2024:

1. Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece) - athletics                     61 pts

2. David Popovici (Romania) – swimming                   59

3. Nikola Jokic (Serbia) - basketball                             56

4. Karlos Nasar (Bulgaria) - weightlifting                     47

4. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - tennis                               47

6. Dusan Mandic (Serbia) - water polo                         25

7. Barbara Matic (Croatia) - judo                                  24

8. Kostas Sloukas (Greece) – basketball                     23

9. Apostolos Christou (Greece) - swimming                22

10. Yusuf Dikec (Turkiye) - shooting                              21
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11. Distria Krasniqi (Kosovo) - judo                              20

12. Islam Dudaev (Albania) – wrestling                       16
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21.  Pavlos Kontides (Cyprus) - sailing                          9      
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30. Mihaela Mishovska (North Macedonia) – karate      6

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37. Nenad Dulovic (Montenegro) - karate                      2