Nikolay Petkov Bukhalov ( bg, Николай Петков Бухалов, born 20 March 1967 in

Karlovo Karlovo ( bg, Карлово ) is a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains. It is administratively part of Plovdiv Province and has a ...

) is

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 Macedo ...

's most successful ever sprint canoeist. He competed mostly in the Canadian canoe C-1 event though he did win

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

medals in the C-4 events. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won three medals, including double gold at Barcelona in 1992. In addition, he won thirteen medals at the

ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation (the other being the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships). The World Cham ...

with five golds (C-1 200 m:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

; C-1 500 m:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, 1994, 1995), three silvers (C-1 500 m:

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, C-1 1000 m: 1991, 1994), and five bronzes (C-1 500 m:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, C-4 500 m:

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, C-4 1000 m:

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, 1990, 1991). The final gold medal of his career came at the 1997 European Championships, held on his home course in Plovdiv, where he won the C-1 500 m title. Bukhalov was a member of the Trakia club in Plovdiv and was coached by Georgi Uchkunov. He is 187 cm (6'2") tall and raced at 83 kg (183 lbs).

References

DatabaseOlympics.com profile
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1967 births Bulgarian male canoeists Canoeists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic canoeists of Bulgaria Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Olympic bronze medalists for Bulgaria Sportspeople from Plovdiv People from Karlovo Olympic medalists in canoeing ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in Canadian {{Bulgaria-Olympic-medalist-stub Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics