Tanyu Kiryakov (, born 2 March 1963) is a

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 pistol shooter. He became the first shooter to have won

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medals in both the

50 metre pistol 50 meter pistol, formerly and unofficially still often called Free Pistol, is one of the ISSF shooting events. It is one of the oldest shooting disciplines, dating back to the 19th century and only having seen marginal rule changes since 1936. I ...

event (

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

) and the

10 metre air pistol The 10 metre air pistol is an Olympic shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). It is similar to 10 metre air rifle in that it is shot with 4.5 mm (or .177) caliber air guns at a distance of , and tha ...

event (

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were repres ...

), in which he was also the first Olympic champion. He is also the only Bulgarian to have won two gold medals at the Summer Olympics. He is considered to be one of the all-time best and his versatile skills and continued excellence have won him numerous fans. He was born in Ruse in northeastern Bulgaria.

External links

Kiryakov's profile at ISSF NEWS
1963 births Living people Bulgarian male sport shooters ISSF pistol shooters Olympic shooters for Bulgaria Shooters at the 1988 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1992 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Olympic bronze medalists for Bulgaria Sportspeople from Ruse, Bulgaria Olympic medalists in shooting Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen {{Bulgaria-sportshooting-bio-stub