Valentin Yordanov

Who is Valentin Yordanov?

Valentin Yordanov Dimitrov, also transliterated Valentin Dimitrov Jordanov is a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler in the up to 52 kg weight class.

He was born in the Bulgarian village of Sandrovo in the Ruse Municipality. He began wrestling at the age of ten, and was coached by Georgi Achev from 1970 to 1978. He did his military service at the sports school of the CSKA Sofia sports club from 1978 to 1980, where he worked with Yancho Patrikov. He won his first European championship in 1980 in Bursa, Turkey, and his first world championship in 1983 in Kiev, Ukraine. He continued to work at the CSKA sports club until 1990. He was one of two people to be named the Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year in 1989.

In 1990 he emigrated to the United States, but he also continued wrestling for Bulgaria until 1996. He won a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in the Freestyle Flyweight 52 kg event and a gold medal in the same event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He is a seven-time world champion, seven-time European champion, and the only wrestler to hold 10 medals from World Championships.