Leading sports managers, Olympic champions, coaches, specialists, representatives of academic circles, university professors participated for more than three hours in the discussions at the forum “Women and sport – challenges and achievements before the Olympic Games in Paris 2024”.
The event was hosted by the National Sports Academy in Sofia and Vessela Letcheva, member of the Commission on “Public Affairs and Corporate Communications” at the IOC and president of the Bulgarian Shooting Union.
Among the guests were Deqa Nimkey, Sport Development Expert, Gender Equality and Diversity Advocate, director of development of the International Wrestling Federation and Mathias Favreau from the Embassy of the Republic of France in Bulgaria, the Olympic champions Rumyana Neykova, Teresa Marinova, Ivet Goranova, the presidents of Olympic federations Iliana Raeva (Rhythmic gymnast federation), Velichka Hristeva – (Fencing federation), Svilen Neykov (Rowing.)
The academic leadership of the National Sports Academy, heads of departments, professors and students participated in the discussions.
The first speaker at the forum was the Rector of the National Sports Academy Prof. Krasimir Petkov. He distinguished the role of women teachers and researchers, coaches and specialists. “I am happy that the National Sports Academy managed to gather around one table the elite of women’s Bulgarian sports. I hope that this is only the first of a series of such meetings that we will organize,” said Prof. Petkov.
Vessela Letcheva congratulated the President of the IOC Thomas Bach and the leadership of the International Olympic Committee for their credit for the achieved success – there will be an equal number of men and women at the Olympic Games in Paris, which is a historic achievement.
However, she noted that there is still work to be done.
“In the EU in 2023, only 22% of all senior management positions in the national federations of the 10 most popular sports will be held by women, with their share varying from 3% in Poland to 51% in Sweden,” noted Vessela Letcheva.
She also recalled women’s difficult path to equality. At the beginning of her career, women and men competed equally in sports shooting, and Lecheva managed to beat the men before the disciplines were separated.
In her capacity as former sports minister and president of the federation, Vessela Letcheva also proposed measures for serious support to increase the number of women in voluntary and high-ranking management positions. They go through training, raising awareness, promoting women as sports leaders and managers, and creating role models.
The presidents of federations – Iliyana Raeva (artistic gymnastics) and Velichka Hristeva (fencing) shared their experience as managers. According to Raeva, the success of her sport in recent years is precisely related to female qualities such as discipline, concentration and ambition in the pursuit of goals. Hristeva noted that at the beginning of her international career she was one of the few female presidents, but that, albeit slowly, is changing. The challenges in the participation of women as athletes and coaches were discussed by Prof. Svilen Neikov, Olympic champions Rumiana Neikova and Ivet Goranova, Antonina Zetova.
The point of view of female athletes is that they receive much less media attention and less interest from advertisers, which is also confirmed by the statistics. According to research conducted in 2018 in Greece, Malta, Great Britain, Romania and Sweden – women receive only 4% of media coverage. “The Olympic title opened many doors for me. Now I try to pass on my experience, I hold meetings, courses, seminars to motivate young people. But at the same time, I realize that sometimes I get things one idea more difficult than what my male colleagues do,” said Olympic champion Ivet Goranova.
“In order to become a national coach, I needed 10 years of proof, and my male colleagues succeeded from the field, to sit directly on the coaching bench,” added former volleyball player Antonina Zetova. According to the former sports minister and successful coach Prof. Svilen Neikov, female competitors are hardworking and disciplined, and when they strongly desire victory, there is no obstacle to achieving it. The Olympic rowing champion Rumiana Neikova added that women have to juggle many roles – wives, mothers, and at the same time prove themselves every day and professionally.
Prof. Efrem Efremov, deputy dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications of SU “Kliment Ohridski”, Vladislava Lazarova – executive producer of the BTV sports, Asen Spiridonov – editor-in-chief of Eurosport Bulgaria, Yana Kasova – doctoral student at the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Milyana Veleva, long-time sports journalist, had different points of view on the subject, but were united in one thing – women sports journalists work with heart, can tell each sports story in a different way and have a place in the until recently reserved for men world.
You can find moge photos from the event in the GALLERY.
