Bulgaria at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Bulgaria at the 2012 Summer Olympics
IOC code	BUL
NOC	Bulgarian Olympic Committee
Website	www.bgolympic.org (in Bulgarian and English)
in London
Competitors	63 in 16 sports
Flag bearers	Yordan Yovchev (opening) Stanka Zlateva (closing)
Medals Ranked 63rd	Gold 0 Silver 2 Bronze 1 Total 3
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900–1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Bulgaria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. It was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, having missed the Olympics on three occasions, including the 1948 Summer Olympics in London due to the nation's role in World War II and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the Soviet boycott. Despite this being London's third Olympic Games, this was the first time a Bulgarian team appeared at a London Olympics. The Bulgarian Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games, tying the record with Helsinki in 1952, and with Tokyo in 1964. A total of 63 athletes, 36 men and 27 women, competed in 16 sports. Men's volleyball was the only team event in which Bulgaria was represented in these Olympic games. There was only a single competitor in badminton, sprint canoeing, fencing, and judo.

The Bulgarian team featured three Olympic medalists from Beijing in freestyle wrestling: Stanka Zlateva, who won the silver, Radoslav Velikov and Kiril Terziev, who both won the bronze. Among these medalists, only Zlateva managed to repeat her silver medal in London, losing out to Russia's Natalia Vorobieva in the final match. Two Bulgarian athletes, on the other hand, made their sixth Olympic appearance: pistol shooter, two-time gold medalist, and former Olympic record holder Maria Grozdeva, and rings gymnast and multiple-time Olympic medalist Yordan Yovchev, who was also the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.^[1]

Bulgaria, however, failed to win the gold medal for the first time since 1952, after achieving poor athletic performance at these Olympic games.^[2] Only three medals were awarded to the athletes, including the bronze medal won by heavyweight boxer Tervel Pulev.