Rumyana Neykova

Rumyana Neykova

Personal information
Born	(1973-04-06) 6 April 1973 Sofia
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Club	Club Academic Cherno More Club
Medal record Women's rowing Representing Bulgaria Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Single sculls 2000 Sydney Single sculls 2004 Athens Single sculls World Championships 2002 Seville Single sculls 2003 Milan Single sculls 2005 Kaizu Double sculls 2007 Oberschleißheim Single sculls 1999 St. Catharines Single sculls 2009 Poznań Double sculls World Junior Championships 1991 Banyoles Single sculls 1990 Aiguebelette-le-lac Single sculls European Championships 2007 Poznań Single sculls

Rumyana Neykova (Bulgarian: Румяна Нейкова; born 6 April 1973 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian rower, who competed at five Olympic Games.

Biography

Neykova competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, the 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2000 Summer Olympics, where she won silver in the single sculls, the 2004 Summer Olympics, where she won bronze in the single sculls, and the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won gold in the single sculls. Her current coach is her husband, Svilen Neykov. In 2002, she set the world best time of 7:07:41 in the women's single sculls and was named Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year (a title she earned again in 2008), as well as FISA Female Rower of the Year. She was also named the BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year in 2007.

Neykova has been involved in rowing since 1985, when she began training at CSKA Sofia coached Verka Aleksieva. She won gold in the junior women's single sculls at the 1990 World Junior Championships. After several unsuccessful attempts with double sculls and quadruple sculls, she switched to the single sculls and won her first senior medal at the 1999 World Championships. She has two world titles in that discipline; in 2002 and 2003. At the 2005 World Championships, she competed in the double sculls, finishing second with Miglena Markova.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics, she narrowly lost the Olympic title to Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus by photo finish. After the Olympics, she took a one-year break, giving birth to her son, Emil Neykov, who has also become a successful rower.

In 2002, Neykova won the Princess Royal Challenge Cup (the premier women's singles sculls event) at the Henley Royal Regatta, rowing for the Club Academic and defeating Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she finished third in the single sculls. In 2005, she won a second Princess Royal Challenge Cup but rowing for the Cherno More Club this time.

Neykova won her first Olympic title at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

It feels really great. I owe everything to my husband (also coach) and my family who have supported and believed in me.

— Neykova after winning the Olympic title in the women's single sculls at the 2008 Summer Olympics

References

• "Това е Румяна Нейкова" (in Bulgarian). Топспорт. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
• "Gold medals around their neck". World Rowing Official Website. 16 August 2008. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2008.

External links

• Rumyana Neykova at World Rowing
• Rumyana Neykova at Olympics.com
• Rumyana Neykova at Olympedia
• Rumyana Neykova at InterSportStats