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Stefka Kostadinova

Personal information
Date of birth	March 25, 1965 (1965-03-25) (age 44)
Place of birth	Plovdiv
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	60 kilograms (132 lb)
Sport
Country	Bulgaria
Retired	1997
Achievements and titles
Olympics	1st (Atlanta, 1996)
Highest world ranking	1st (Rome, 1987)
Personal best(s)	High jump (outdoor): 2.09 m (World Record) High jump (indoor): 2.06 m[1]
Medal record

Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgarian: Стефка Костадинова) (born March 25, 1965 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is the current women's world record holder in the high jump. She is retired from competition and currently is president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.

Kostadinova is the reigning world record holder in the women's high jump at 2.09 m which she jumped during the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome. Her world record is one of the oldest in modern athletics. Altogether Kostadinova has set seven world records - three outdoors and four indoors. She has jumped over 2.00 m 197 times, an achievement unequalled by any other athlete in the women's high jump.

Stefka Kostadinova won the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, setting an Olympic record of 2.05 m. She also has an Olympic silver medal from the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Kostadinova is a double world outdoor champion - from the World Championships in 1987 and 1995.

Kostadinova has taken part in five IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics - Paris 1985, Indianapolis 1987, Budapest 1989, Toronto 1993 and Paris 1997, winning gold in all of them. She has also snatched gold in all European Championships in Athletics which she has competed in. She is a European outdoor champion from Stuttgart in 1986 and a four-time European indoor champion from Athens 1985, Budapest 1988 and Paris 1994.

Kostadinova has been voted Sportsperson of the Year in Bulgaria (1985, 1987, 1995 and 1996). She is also included in the Top 10 of the Twentieth Century Female Athletes, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations^{[citation needed]}.

In 1995 Kostadinova gave birth to her son, Nikolay, just several months before winning gold in the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. In 1999 she divorced her long-standing husband and coach, Nikolay Petrov. The same year she officially put an end to her athletic career, though she had actually not participated in any major sports competition since the World Indoors Championship in 1997.

After retiring Kostadinova started a career in sports administration. Since 1999 she has held various positions, such as vice president of the Bulgarian Athletics Federation, vice president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and deputy sports minister of Bulgaria (2003 - 2005).

On November 11, 2005 Kostadinova was elected President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee. She replaced Ivan Slavkov, who was expelled by the International Olympic Committee for violating its standards in ethics.

References

Records
Preceded by Lyudmila Andonova	Women's High Jump World Record Holder June 1, 1986 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Sporting positions
Preceded by Ivan Slavkov	President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee November 11, 2005 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Sporting positions
Preceded by Lyudmila Andonova	Women's High Jump Best Year Performance 1985 – 1988	Succeeded by Silvia Costa
Preceded by Heike Henkel	Women's High Jump Best Year Performance 1992 – 1993	Succeeded by Silvia Costa Inga Babakova Britta Bilač
Preceded by Inga Babakova	Women's High Jump Best Year Performance 1996 – 1997	Succeeded by Venelina Veneva
Preceded by Lyudmila Andonova	Women's Bulgarian National Champion 1985 — 1988	Succeeded by Rosanel Gogi
Preceded by Svetlana Leseva	Women's Bulgarian National Champion 1991	Succeeded by Lyudmila Andonova
Preceded by Venelina Veneva	Women's Bulgarian National Champion 1996	Succeeded by Khristina Kalcheva