The BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year, Balkan Athlete of the Year, or simply Athlete of the Balkans () is an annual sports athlete of the year award. The winner of each year's award is announced by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). The award is given to the year's top performing individual athlete that has citizenship from one of the nations of the Balkans region, which includes the twelve nations of: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey, and previously included the former nations of Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia, and Serbia and Montenegro. The award winners are chosen by the votes of a panel of sports journalists and editors from the following ten Balkan nation's news media outlets: the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), which also announces each year's winners, the Romanian AGERPRES, the Greek Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), the Turkish Anadolu Agency (AA), the Croatian News Agency (HINA), the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federal News Agency (FENA), the North Macedonia Media Information Agency (MIA), the Montenegrin News Agency (MINA), and the Serbian Tanjug.
All athletes that have citizenship from a country that is a part of the Balkans region, both men's and women's, and that compete in all age categories and all levels of competition, are eligible for the award. Balkan athletes from all sports competitions, both individual sports and team sports, are eligible for the award. Balkan athletes are also eligible for the award regardless of what country in the world that they compete in, as they do not have to compete in a Balkans nation to be eligible to win the award.
The first Balkan Athlete of the Year award was given for the year 1973. It was won by Svetla Zlateva, a Bulgarian sprinter and middle-distance runner. The Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, has won the most awards, having won the award a total of eight times (2011–2015, 2019, 2021, 2023).
Balkan Athlete of the Year award winners (1973–present)
Year Edition Athlete SportAwards, honors, and achievements in Year WonRef. Svetla Zlateva 1973 Bulgarian Athletics Championships 400 metres indoor: 1973 Bulgarian Athletics Championships 800 metres outdoor: 1973 Bulgarian Athletics Championships 1500 metres outdoor: 1973 Women's 800 metres World Record Mate Parlov 1974 World Boxing Championship Light Heavyweight Division: 1974 Balkans Boxing Championship Light Heavyweight Division: 1974 Yugoslavia Boxing Championship Light Heavyweight Division: 1974 DSL Sport's Best Athlete of Yugoslavia 1974 Sportske novosti's Yugoslav Sportsman of the Year Nadia Comăneci 1975 Champions All Team: 1975 Champions All All Around: 1975 Pre-Olympics All Around: 1975 Pre-Olympics Vault: 1975 Pre-Olympics Uneven Bars: 1975 Pre-Olympics Balance Beam: 1975 Pre-Olympics Floor Exercise: 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships All-Around: 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships Vault: 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships Uneven Bars: 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships Balance Beam: 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships Floor Exercise: 1975 Romania-Canada Dual Meet Team: 1975 Romania-Canada Dual Meet All Around: 1975 West Germany-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1975 West Germany-Romania Dual Meet All Around: 1975 Romania-Italy Dual Meet Team: 1975 Romania-Italy Dual Meet All Around: 1975 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Team: 1975 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships All Around: 1975 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Vault: 1975 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Uneven Bars: 1975 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Balance Beam: 1975 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Floor Exercise: 1975 United Press International Athlete of the Year Nadia Comăneci (2×) 1976 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's artistic individual all-around: 1976 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's uneven bars: 1976 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's balance beam: 1976 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's artistic team all-around: 1976 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's floor: 1976 American Cup All Around: 1976 Chunichi Cup All Around: 1976 Balkan Gymnastics Championship Team: 1976 Balkan Gymnastics Championship All Around: 1976 Balkan Gymnastics Championship Vault: 1976 Balkan Gymnastics Championship Uneven Bars: 1976 Balkan Gymnastics Championship Balance Beam: 1976 Balkan Gymnastics Championship Floor Exercise: 1976 USA-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1976 USA-Romania Dual Meet All Around: 1976 Canada-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1976 Canada-Romania All Around: 1976 Great Britain-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1976 Great Britain-Romania Dual Meet All Around: 1976 West Germany-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1976 West-Germany-Romania All Around: 1976 Netherlands-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1976 Netherlands-Romania Dual Meet All Around: 1976 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships All Around: 1976 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Vault: 1976 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Uneven Bars: 1976 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Balance Beam: 1976 Romanian Gymnastics National Championships Floor Exercise: 1976 United Press International Athlete of the Year 1976 Associated Press Athlete of the Year 1976 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year 1976 Hero of Socialist Labour Totka Petrova 1977 IAAF World Cup 800 metres: 1977 European Athletics Indoor Championships: 800 metres 1977 Summer Universiade Athletics 800 metres: 1977 Summer Universiade Athletics 1500 metres: 1977 Bulgarian Athletics Championships 800 metres Indoor: 1977 Bulgarian Athletics Championships 800 metres Outdoor: 1977 Bulgarian Athletics Championships 1500 metres Outdoor: 1977 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Miloš Srejović 1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's triple jump: 1978 Triple jump of 16.94 meters: Yugoslavia men's national record Yanko Rusev 1979 World Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Snatch: 1979 World Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Clean and Jerk: 1979 World Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Total: 1979 European Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Snatch: 1979 European Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Clean and Jerk: 1979 European Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Total: 1979 Bulgarian Weightlifting Championships 67.5 kg Weight Class Clean and Jerk: 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Snatch: 145 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Snatch: 146 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Clean and Jerk: 181.5 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Snatch: 147 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Clean and Jerk: 185.5 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Total: (2) 325 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Clean and Jerk: 187.5 kg World Record 1979 Men's 67.5 kg Weight Class Total: (2) 332.5 kg World Record Nadia Comăneci (3×) 1980 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's artistic team all-around: 1980 Summer Olympics Gymnastics artistic individual all-around: 1980 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's balance beam: 1980 Summer Olympics Gymnastics – Women's floor: 1980 Italy-Romania Dual Meet Team: 1980 Italy-Romania Dual Meet All Around: 1980 International Championship of Romania All Around: 1980 International Championship of Romania Uneven Bars: Antoaneta Todorova Blagoy Blagoev 1982 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Diliana Georgieva Lyudmila Andonova 1984 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Stefka Kostadinova 1985 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Yordanka Donkova 1986 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Stefka Kostadinova (2×) 1987 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Daniela Silivaș Paula Ivan Monica Seles Yugoslav Sportswoman of the Year (1990) Monica Seles (2×) Voula Patoulidou 1992 Greek Female Athlete of the Year Ivan Ivanov Hristo Stoichkov 1994 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Stefka Kostadinova (3×) 1995 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Stefka Kostadinova (4×) 1996 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Stefka Kostadinova (5×) Ekaterina Dafovska 1998 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Gabriela Szabo Kostas Kenteris 2000 Greek Male Athlete of the Year Kostas Kenteris (2×) 2001 Greek Male Athlete of the Year Georgi Markov Yordan Yovchev 2003 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Maria Grozdeva 2004 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Marian Drăgulescu Vanya Stambolova Rumyana Neykova Constantina Tomescu Vassilis Spanoulis Stanka Zlateva 2010 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Novak Djokovic 2011 Serbian Sportsman of the Year Novak Djokovic (2×) Novak Djokovic (3×) 2013 Serbian Sportsman of the Year Novak Djokovic (4×) 2014 Serbian Sportsman of the Year Novak Djokovic (5×) 2015 Serbian Sportsman of the Year Sandra Perković 2016 Croatian Sportswoman of the Year Grigor Dimitrov 2017 Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year Luka Modrić 2018 Croatian Sportsman of the Year Novak Djokovic (6×) 2019 Serbian Sportsman of the Year Novak Djokovic (7×) David Popovici Novak Djokovic (8×) 2023 Serbian Sportsman of the Year Miltos Tentoglou 2024 Greek Male Athlete of the Year
References
External links All Winners of the BTA "Athlete of the Balkans" Poll Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) official website Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) official website