11. Dezember 2024  
Bulgaria  
Rhythmic Gymnastics

Another prominent retirement: Boryana KALEYN

Boryana Kaleyn (BUL)

After one Olympic, four world and 16 European medals, Bulgaria's gymnastics star Boryana KALEYN is retiring from international sport. ‘It's time to turn an important page in my life: that of an active athlete,’ she wrote on Instagram. ‘I'm grateful for everything I've been through.’
An expressive talent with a penchant for spins, the now 24-year-old has been at the centre of a string of exceptional Bulgarian gymnasts who have ushered in a new golden era for the country over the last two Olympic cycles.

In the early years of her career, however, she was known for narrowly missing out on medals. After finishing fifth at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she came fourth at the 2021 World Championships. At the World Championships in her hometown of Sofia the following year, she had to withdraw from the event just minutes before the scheduled start due to illness. ‘I started to think I was cursed,’ she recalls.
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But in 2022, her fortunes changed:
She won the hoop competition at the World Games in Birmingham (USA), which helped her regain her confidence. After a break in the winter of 2023, she returned focussed and won the European title, her first major victory in the all-around.
She then went on to win team gold and two individual silver medals at the 2023 World Championships in Valencia (ESP).
She also won the silver medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris behind Darya Varfolomeev (GER) and proudly carried the Bulgarian flag at the closing ceremony!

Her Olympic routines told the story of her career in four parts:
- The hoop routine depicted her childhood,
- the ball, when she started to have success,
- the clubs, when she struggled with problems,
- ... and the ribbon that shows her current self!
‘I struggled, I cried, I hoped, I was disappointed, sometimes I didn't even see the point.... but I didn't stop trying,’ she wrote after the games. ‘I believed that my efforts would be rewarded, that life would give me difficulties to prepare me for something bigger and more important. Was it easy? The answer is no. Things worth achieving are never easy and usually don't come quickly.’
* Source: f i g website