Ivanka Koleva ( bg, Иванка Колева) (born 9 December 1968) is a

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

track and field

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

from

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 ...

competing mainly in throwing events in the T57 classification. Koleva has represented Bulgaria at four Summer Paralympics from 2000 to 2012, winning gold in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. She was also world champion in the discus in 1994, and competed once as a

powerlifter Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...

in the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

at Beijing.

Personal history

Koleva was born in Chirpan Bulgaria in 1968. Her mother had a kidney problem during pregnancy and was given a medication which had a harmful effect on the foetus. Due to this Koleva was born with impairments to her legs which resulted in them being amputated when she was six years-old.

Sporting career

Koleva took up para-sport in Stara Zagora in 1985 out of curiosity. In 1994 she represented Bulgaria at the 1994 IPC Athletics World Championships in Berlin, winning gold in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

and bronze in the

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

. She followed this with further success in the 1998 World Championships in Birmingham, when she took silver in the

. She competed in her first Summer Paralympic Games in 2000 in Sydney. There she entered the discus throw (F58) and the shot put (F57), taking the gold medal in the latter with a distance of 7.85. She would go on to represent her country at the following three Summer Paralympics, but despite entering another nine events, all in field athletics, she failed to repeat the success of her first games. Her best result after 2000 were two sixth places in the 2004 and 2008 games in the shot put, but after Sydney her event was merged with other classification athletes on a points basis, greatly widening the field of competition. At the 2008 Games Koleva also entered the powerlifting tournament in the 67.5 kg event, but failed to complete a successful lift. Koleva has competed at every IPC World Championship from 1994 to 2015, and in 2016 she entered the 2016 European Games in Grosseto. In the F57 shot put she threw a season's best of 8.50 to take her first major international gold medal for 16 years.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koleva, Ivanka 1968 births Paralympic athletes of Bulgaria Bulgarian female discus throwers Bulgarian female javelin throwers Bulgarian female shot putters Bulgarian powerlifters Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Living people Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Chirpan Wheelchair discus throwers Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic discus throwers Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters