Boyan Radev (; born February 25, 1942, in Moshino,

Pernik Pernik ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, a town in western Bulgaria (about south-west of Sofia) with a population of 70,285 . Pernik is the most populated town in western Bulgaria after Sofia. It is the main town of Pernik Province an ...

) is a former Greco Roman

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

from

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. He was the first Bulgarian two-time

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

champion (1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico) and one-time world champion. Radev is also an

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

and artist sponsor.

Professional Wrestling

Boyan Radev wrestled for

Minyor Pernik FC Minyor () is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, currently competing in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The club's name comes ...

, Orlin Pirdop,

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

and

Spartak Sofia FC Spartak Sofia () was a Bulgarian football club based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The club was officially founded in 1947. The team plays in the Bulgarian Regional Division. The club's home colours are blue and white. Spartak's home ground is Rakovski ...

. Radev is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (1964 and 1968) and a 1966 world champion. He has also silver medals at the 1962 and 1967 World Cups as well as the 1968 European Championships.

Awards

Radev has been awarded Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year in 1964, 1967, and 1968. He has been given the title Merited Master of Sport of Bulgaria. Inducted in the

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of Wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the World Championships and Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrest ...

Greco-Roman

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in 2009 Awarded the

Pierre de Coubertin Medal The Pierre de Coubertin Medal is a special decoration awarded by the International Olympic Committee that "pays tribute to institutions with a pedagogical and educational role and to people who, through their research and the creation of intell ...

in 2009. Elected

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

Sportsman of 20th Century.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Committee for State Security

Radev ended his wrestling career shortly after the merger of

and

in 1971. Thereafter, he worked for the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

in Bulgaria. He also worked for the Bulgarian Committee for State Security from 1964 onwards. Radev was a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

at the time of his retirement.

Art collection

As Radev said himself, he became a vivid art collector after he was given a painting by the artist Stoyan Illiev. Since then, Radev has devoted part of his time to art collecting and philanthropy in Bulgaria. Radev has donated all of his wrestling medals as well as his Madara (Bulgarian State Order) and Peter the Great (Russian State Order) to the

National Historical Museum (Bulgaria) The National Historical Museum (''Национален исторически музей'', Natsionalen istoricheski muzey) in Sofia is Bulgaria's largest museum. It was founded on 5 May 1973. A new representative exhibition was opened in the bu ...

– making him the number one donor to the museum.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radev, Boyan 1942 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Bulgaria Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Bulgarian male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Sportspeople from Pernik 20th-century art collectors Olympic medalists in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen