Svetla Stefanova Dimitrova () (born 27 January 1970 in Botevgrad) is a former

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 ...

n athlete who started out competing in

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

, and later specialized as a sprint hurdler. She represented her country four times at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

, from 1988 to 2000. Her best Olympic placing was fifth in the heptathlon at the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

.Svetla Stefanova Dimitrova
Sports-reference. Retrieved on 2012-01-26. She won the inaugural heptathlon competition at the

1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was the inaugural 1986 edition of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Athens, Greece on 16–20 July. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an un ...

and returned two years later to defend it at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She broke the world junior record for the heptathlon at the 1989 European Cup with a score of 6534 points, but the mark was never ratified as she failed a doping test afterwards.Pishtikova Svetla

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 2012-01-26. She was suspended for two years and returned in 1992. She won the 1993 edition of the

Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics (sport), athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis in Vorarlberg (Austria) held in the spring (late May, early June). In its history, a total of three world records have been se ...

. She was the silver medallist in the hurdles at the

1994 IAAF World Cup The 7th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held between 9 and 11 September 1994, at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in Lond ...

and won that event at the 1994 IAAF Grand Prix Final with a career best time of 12.53 seconds. In 1997 she competed in the

World Championships 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 ...

held in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in the 100 metres hurdles where she finished second behind Sweden's

Ludmila Engquist Ludmila Viktorovna Engquist (née Leonova (). formerly Narozhilenko; born 21 April 1964) is a Russian-Swedish former Athletics (sport), athlete, who competed mainly in the 100 metres hurdles. She competed for the Soviet Union (until 1991), Russia ...

. She won two straight hurdles titles at the

1994 European Athletics Championships The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland. Men's results Complete results were published. Track 1986 , 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , Field 1986 , 1990 , 19 ...

and

1998 European Athletics Championships The 17th European Athletics Championships were held from 18 August to 23 August 1998 in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. Men's results Track 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , 2006 , Field 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , 2006 , Women's results ...

. At the

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, between the Augus ...

she came fifth in the hurdles final and improved to fourth at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 and 12 August 2001 and was the first time the event ...

. She tried for a third straight European title at the 2002 European Athletics Championships but hit a hurdle in the final and finished last. She retired from competition in 2004. Dimitrova was a contestant in the second season of Survivor BG: Expedition Robinson. After her athletics career she married and is now ''Svetla Pishtikova''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrova, Svetla 1970 births Living people Bulgarian heptathletes Bulgarian female hurdlers Bulgarian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Bulgaria World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople from Burgas World Athletics U20 Championships winners Bulgarian Athletics Championships winners

See also

References