Boris Tsonev’s Contribution to Bulgaria’s Participation in the 1936 Olympic Games

A significant influence on the development and enrichment of the arts competitions for the 1936 Olympic Games was the presence of German political propaganda, which aimed to manifest the power and strength of the German political, economic and socio-cultural model of government. This is one of the reasons for including dance competitions in the official cultural program, even though they are not approved by the International Olympic Committee. Undoubtedly, this fact later had its influence on a large part of the Bulgarian and foreign scientific publications, which relied on official IOC sources, rejecting German publications. The aim of the study is to present new information about the historical participation of Bulgaria and the dance troupe „Bulgarian Kitka“ and the choreographer Boris Tsonev in the first dance competitions in the arts held at the XI Olympic Games in Berlin, in which our country won the Olympic gold medal. Several areas of information gathering are covered: a study of foreign literature, a review of all publications by Bulgarian researchers in the field of the Olympic movement in Bulgaria that present information on the subject. In terms of methodology, all the information found in scientific and popular sources was systematized and processed based on the biographical method, content analysis, comparative and critical analysis. This publication presents newly discovered information, in Bulgarian and foreign periodical publications, which enable an attempt to reconstruct the events in order to clarify the participation of Boris Tsonev and the ensemble „Bulgarian Kitka“ in these competitions. These discoveries will shed light on the history of the Olympic movement in Bulgaria and form a new perspective in the discussions on the subject discussed by other contemporary researchers of the Olympic movement.