site.btaUPDATED Stefka Kostadinova to Join MRF Election Lists, to Step Down as Bulgarian Olympic Committee President

Stefka Kostadinova, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic high jump champion, has agreed to be included on the candidate list of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party for the upcoming parliamentary elections on April 19, she announced in an official statement on Monday.

Kostadinova announced her intention to continue working for the development of Bulgarian sports and for better conditions for young people in the country, this time as a candidate for Member of Parliament. In this regard, she will take the necessary steps to resign from her position as President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC), in accordance with the organization’s bylaws and applicable legislation.

Kostadinova is currently registered in the Commercial Register as BOC President. During the BOC Elective General Assembly on March 19, 2025, a new leadership, headed by Vesela Lecheva, was elected but has not yet been registered in the Commercial Register due to ongoing court appeals. On May 17, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it had provisionally recognized the results of the Elective General Assembly, confirming that Lecheva and her team are the only individuals authorized to represent the BOC to the IOC, within the Olympic Movement, and at all IOC-recognized events and Games. 

Eight actions have been brought by federations and individual members against the election of Lecheva and the Executive Bureau. So far, four of these claims have been dismissed by court as unfounded: the ones filed by the Bulgarian Confederation of Kickboxing and Muay Thai, the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation, the Bulgarian Badminton Federation, and Zhivko Vangelov. One action, initiated by Belcho Goranov, Plamen Krastev, Atanas Tarev and Hristo Markov, has been granted, and the court has annulled Lecheva's election. Three actions in this subject-matter remain pending.

"I will take the necessary steps in accordance with the BOC Charter and applicable law to relinquish my powers, while at the same time, in the interest of Bulgarian sports, I call on the parties involved to resolve the existing disputes in a manner that will allow the Bulgarian Olympic Committee to continue to be a symbol of unity and a worthy member of the global Olympic family," Kostadinova said in her official statement.

Article 41 of the Statute of the BOC states: In the event of [the President's] resignation, permanent inability to perform their duties, or death, the powers of the President shall be exercised by one of the Deputy Presidents, designated by the Executive Bureau, until a General Assembly is held.

Later on Monday, BOC President-elect Lecheva issued a statement: “I accept the statement by Stefka Kostadinova as a call to the federations and individual members of the BOC who have filed lawsuits against the BOC General Assembly held on April 19, 2025 to withdraw them within a short timeframe. I would like to remind that behind the lawsuits stand close associates and friends of Kostadinova. The sporting community will believe that this is a sincere message aimed at closing one of the most shameful chapters in the history of Bulgarian sport only if they withdraw their complaints.”

“To ensure that the work of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee is not obstructed, I expect Stefka Kostadinova to set, as soon as possible, a date on which we can hold a working meeting at which she will hand over the office, as well as all operational tasks, and inform us about the financial and staffing situation of the committee,” she added.