View source for Stoyan Deltchev

{{Short description|Bulgarian gymnast (born 1959)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox gymnast
| name = Stoyan Deltchev
| image = 
| image_size = 150px
| caption = 
| fullname = 
| altname = 
| nickname = 
| country = {{BUL}}
| formercountry = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|07|03}}
| birth_place = [[Plovdiv]], [[Bulgaria]]
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| height = 
| discipline = MAG
| natlteam = 
| club = 
| gym = 
| collegeteam = 
| headcoach = 
| assistcoach = 
| formercoach = 
| choreographer = 
| music = 
| eponymousskills = '''''Deltchev''''' '''(B)''' (rings):<br />Felge upward to support with straddled legs supported above the ring<br />
'''''Deltchev''''' '''(C)''' (horizontal bar):<br />Swing fwd 1/2 twist to salto forward straddle to hang<br />
| retired = 
| show-medals = true
| medaltemplates = <!-- see [[Template:MedalRelatedTemplates]] -->
{{MedalCompetition | [[Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1980 Summer Olympics|1980 Moscow]] | [[Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics|Horizontal bar]] }}
{{MedalBronze | 1980 Moscow | [[Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics|All-around]] }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]] }}
{{MedalBronze | [[1978 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1978 Strasbourg]] | Pommel horse }}
{{MedalBronze | 1978 Strasbourg | Horizontal bar }}
}}

'''Stoyan Deltchev''' ({{langx|bg|Стоян Делчев}}, born in [[Plovdiv]], July 3, 1959) is a [[Bulgaria]]n retired [[Artistic gymnastics|artistic gymnast]] and a European and Olympic champion. He competed at the [[1980 Summer Olympics]] in [[Moscow]], where he won a gold medal in horizontal bar and a bronze medal in the all-around, and he won the all-around at the [[1979 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1979 European Championships]].

== Personal life ==
Deltchev began gymnastics when he was 10; he initially played [[association football|football]], and his father noticed his athleticism and decided to put him in a more individual sport.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Oxarart |first=Scott |date=2008-02-20 |title=Local gymnast reaches the International Hall of Fame |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/439624227/80CB982B6AC94369PQ/2 |access-date=2025-04-28 |work=Reno Gazette |pages=D.3}}</ref> He has a daughter, Deliana.<ref name="IG">{{Cite magazine |last=Crumlish |first=John |date=October 2002 |title=Catching up with...Bulgaria |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/213997927/6C31CBFF4F184EC9PQ/4 |access-date=2025-04-28 |magazine=International Gymnast |pages=26-29 |volume=44 |issue=10}}</ref>

== Career ==
Deltchev competed at the [[1977 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1977 European Championships]], where he won the gold medal in the horizontal bar final.<ref name=":0" /> That year, at an invitational competition in [[Riga]], he first competed the horizontal bar move now named after him, which was the first aerial release move on the apparatus.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 2002 |title=Cool trix |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/214007220/80CB982B6AC94369PQ/5 |access-date=2025-04-28 |magazine=International Gymnast |pages=13-20 |volume=44 |issue=12}}</ref>

The following year, he competed at the [[1978 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1978 World Championships]], where he finished eighth in the all-around and won two bronze medals in the apparatus finals, one in pommel horse and the other with the horizontal bar, where he tied with [[Gennady Krysin]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1978 World Champs, Men's AA |url=https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Worlds/Men/1978_aa.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Gymn Forum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1978 World Champs, Men's EF |url=https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Worlds/Men/1978_ef.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Gymn Forum}}</ref>

In 1979, Deltchev won the all-around at the [[1979 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1979 European Championships]]. He was the first man representing a country outside the Soviet Union to win the competition in fourteen years. He also competed at the [[1979 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1979 World Cup]], where he won bronze in the all-around as well as gold on the floor exercise.<ref name="IG" />

Deltchev represented Bulgaria at the [[1980 Summer Olympics]], where he won the all-around bronze medal. In the event finals, he became the Olympic champion on the horizontal bar.<ref name="IG" />

In an interview about his career in 2002, Deltchev reflected on how he trained many different skills that he was not able to put into his competitive routines, as he was Bulgaria's main gymnast during his career and often traveled to compete. He first succeeded with his eponymous high bar move after watching another gymnast attempt it at his gym; the gymnast's coach encouraged Deltchev to try it, and he managed to regrab the bar on his third attempt. He claimed he invented his eponymous move on the rings by accident after his grip became stuck on the rings.<ref name="IG" />

After he finished competing, Deltchev went to [[Liverpool]], England to coach for several months, before he moved to the United States in 1991.<ref name="IG" /> He initially worked in [[Napa, California]],<ref name=":0" /> and he now owns a gymnastics school in [[Reno, Nevada]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deltchev Gymnastics |url=https://www.deltchevgymnastics.com/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Deltchev Gymnastics |language=en}}</ref> 

In 2008, he was named to the [[International Gymnastics Hall of Fame]].<ref name=":0" /> In 2019, he and other Bulgarian gymnasts such as [[Boriana Stoyanova]] were recognized for their achievements at the opening of the 2019 Bulgarian championships.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-02 |title=Големите Стоян Делчев и Боряна Стоянова с награди от министър Красен Кралев |trans-title=The great Stoyan Delchev and Boryana Stoyanova with awards from Minister Krasen Kralev |url=https://bnr.bg/post/101139278 |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=[[Bulgarian National Radio]] |language=bg}}</ref>

== Eponymous skills ==
Deltchev has two eponymous skills listed in the men's [[Code of Points (gymnastics)|Code of Points]], one on the rings and one on the horizontal bar:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-25 |title=Men's Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points 2025-2028 |url=https://www.gymnastics.sport/publicdir/rules/files/en_1.1%20-%20MAG%20Code%20of%20Points%202025-2028.pdf |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=[[International Gymnastics Federation]]}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Apparatus
!Name
!Description
![[Code of Points (gymnastics)#Table of elements|Difficulty]]{{efn|Valid for the 2025–2028 Code of Points|name=difficulty}}
|-
|Rings
|Deltchev
|Felge upward to support with straddled legs supported above the rings (2 seconds)
|B (0.2)
|-
|Horizontal bar
|Deltchev
|Swing forward to ½ twist [[Salto (gymnastics)|salto]], forward straddle to hang
|C (0.3)
|}
<references group="lower-alpha" responsive="1"></references>His high bar skill, performed on the uneven bars, is also named for him in the women's Code of Points.<ref>{{cite web |date=22 April 2024 |title=Women’s Artistic Gymnastics – 2025-2028 Code of Points |url=https://www.gymnastics.sport/publicdir/rules/files/en_1.1%20-%20WAG%20COP%202025-2028.pdf |access-date=2 February 2025 |website=[[International Gymnastics Federation]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{sports links}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions Horizontal Bar Men}}
{{Footer European Artistic Gymnastics All-Around Champions (Men)}}
{{European Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Men's Floor Exercise}}
{{European Artistic Gymnastics Championships – Men's horizontal bar}}
{{International Gymnastics Hall of Fame members}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deltchev, Stoyan}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Bulgarian male artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen]]
[[Category:Gymnasts from Plovdiv]]
[[Category:Bulgarian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1980 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gymnasts for Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:European champions in gymnastics]]