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BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year

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(Redirected from BTA Balkan Athlete of the Year) Award
BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year
Awarded forBest Balkan Athlete
CountryThe Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro (previously), Slovenia, Turkey, Yugoslavia (previously)
Presented byBulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA)
First awarded1973
Most awardsSerbia Novak Djokovic (8×)
Websitewww.bta.bg/en

The BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year, or simply Balkan Athlete of the Year (Bulgarian: БТА спортист на Балканите, romanizedBTA sportist na Balkanite) is an annual sports athlete of the year award. The winner of each year's award is announced by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA). The award is given to the year's top performing individual athlete that has citizenship from one of the nations of the Balkans region, which includes the twelve nations of: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey, and previously included the former nations of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. The award winners are chosen by the votes of a panel of sports journalists and editors from the following ten Balkan nation's news media outlets: the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), which also announces each year's winners, the Romanian AGERPRES, the Greek Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), the Turkish Anatolian Agency (AA), the Croatian News Agency (HINA), the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federal News Agency (FENA), the North Macedonia Media Information Agency (MIA), the Montenegrin News Agency (MINA), and the Serbian TANYUG Correct.

All athletes that have citizenship from a country that is a part of the Balkans region, both men's and women's, and that compete in all age categories and all levels of competition, are eligible for the award. Balkan athletes from all sports competitions, both individual sports and team sports, are eligible for the award. Balkan athletes are also eligible for the award regardless of what country in the world that they compete in, as they do not have to compete in a Balkans nation to be eligible to win the award.

The first Balkan Athlete of the Year award was given for the year 1973. It was won by Svetla Zlateva, a Bulgarian sprinter and middle-distance runner. The Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, has won the most awards, having won the award a total of eight times (2011–2015, 2019, 2021, 2023).

Balkan Athlete of the Year award winners (1973–present)

Year Athlete Sport Awards, honors, and achievements in Year Won Ref.
1973 Bulgaria Svetla Zlateva athletics
1974 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Mate Parlov boxing
1975 Romania Nadia Comăneci artistic gymnastics
1976 Romania Nadia Comăneci (2×) artistic gymnastics
1977 Bulgaria Totka Petrova athletics
1978 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Miloš Srejović athletics
1979 Bulgaria Yanko Rusev weightlifting
1980 Romania Nadia Comăneci (3×) artistic gymnastics
1981 Bulgaria Antoaneta Todorova athletics
1982 Bulgaria Blagoi Blagoev weightlifting
1983 Bulgaria Diliana Georgieva rhythmic gymnastics
1984 Bulgaria Lyudmila Andonova athletics
1985 Bulgaria Stefka Kostadinova athletics
1986 Bulgaria Yordanka Donkova athletics
1987 Bulgaria Stefka Kostadinova (2×) athletics
1988 Romania Daniela Silivaș artistic gymnastics
1989 Romania Paula Ivan athletics
1990 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Monica Seles tennis
1991 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Monica Seles (2×) tennis
1992 Greece Voula Patoulidou athletics
1993 Bulgaria Ivan Ivanov weightlifting
1994 Bulgaria Hristo Stoichkov football
1995 Bulgaria Stefka Kostadinova (3×) athletics
1996 Bulgaria Stefka Kostadinova (4×) athletics
1997 Bulgaria Stefka Kostadinova (5×) athletics
1998 Bulgaria Ekaterina Dafovska biathlon
1999 Romania Gabriela Szabo athletics
2000 Greece Kostas Kenteris athletics
2001 Greece Kostas Kenteris (2×) athletics
2002 Bulgaria Georgi Markov weightlifting
2003 Bulgaria Yordan Yovchev artistic gymnastics
2004 Bulgaria Maria Grozdeva shooting
2005 Romania Marian Drăgulescu artistic gymnastics
2006 Bulgaria Vanya Stambolova athletics
2007 Bulgaria Rumyana Neykova rowing
2008 Romania Constantina Tomescu athletics
2009 Greece Vassilis Spanoulis basketball
2010 Bulgaria Stanka Zlateva wrestling
2011 Serbia Novak Djokovic tennis
2012 Serbia Novak Djokovic (2×) tennis
2013 Serbia Novak Djokovic (3×) tennis
2014 Serbia Novak Djokovic (4×) tennis
2015 Serbia Novak Djokovic (5×) tennis
2016 Croatia Sandra Perković athletics
2017 Bulgaria Grigor Dimitrov tennis
2018 Croatia Luka Modrić football
2019 Serbia Novak Djokovic (6×) tennis
2020 Cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 Serbia Novak Djokovic (7×) tennis
2022 Romania David Popovici swimming
2023 Serbia Novak Djokovic (8×) tennis

References

  1. ^ "Djokovic named Balkan athlete of the year for a record eighth time ahead of Jokic". AP News. 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  2. "Spanoulis named Balkan athlete of the year". reuters.com. December 23, 2009. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  3. "Zlateva beats Djokovic to win Balkan athlete of year". www.ft.lk. December 23, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  4. India TV News Desk (December 14, 2011). "Djokovic Chosen Balkan Athlete Of The Year". indiatvnews.com. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  5. James Crook (February 2, 2013). "Djokovic named Balkan Athlete of the Year". insidethegames.biz. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  6. "Modric wins Balkan athlete of the year award". tribuna.com. December 27, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  7. Mia / Zaman.mk (January 18, 2017). "Croatia's Perkovic named Balkan Athlete of the Year". zaman.mk. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  8. Adam Addicott (December 18, 2017). "Grigor Dimitrov Tops Halep To Be Named Balkan Athlete Of 2017". ubitennis.net. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  9. "Luka Modric beats Novak Djokovic to win Balkan athlete of year". hindustantimes.com. December 27, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  10. "Novak Djokovic named best Balkan athlete for record 7th time; Giannis Antetokounmpo finishes runner-up". espn.com. Associated Press. December 29, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  11. "Romanian swimmer Popovici named Best Balkan Athlete of 2022". Associated Press News. apnews.com. December 28, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2023.

External links

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