Elitsa Atanasova Yankova ( bg, Елица Атанасова Янкова, 18 September 1994) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n freestyle wrestler. She participated in the 48 kg competition in 2016 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal. This became the first 2016 Olympics medal for Bulgaria. As an adolescent, Yankova had ambitions for short-distance running in track and field, but later switched to freestyle wrestling. Her father, Atanas Yankov, is a former Greco-Roman wrestler. In 2009, Yankova, though she failed to secure a spot at the European Championships, was noticed by coach Petar Kasabov, who convinced her to start training under him with the Levski sports club. In 2013, she became a junior world champion. She also holds a number of national titles. In 2015, Yankova damaged her spine, but recovered and returned to wrestling. Yankova's hobby is folk dancing. She is a student at the South-West University.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yankova, Elitsa Olympic wrestlers for Bulgaria Bulgarian female sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in wrestling Olympic bronze medalists for Bulgaria 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Varna, Bulgaria European Games medalists in wrestling European Games silver medalists for Bulgaria European Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century Bulgarian women 21st-century Bulgarian people