A substantial role in setting the foundations of the development of the sport in the town had the Swiss George De Regibuss, who in two years /1894-1895/ as a teacher in physical education turned the Varna men’s high school into a center of several sports, and its students – into the first contestants in football, boxing, roller skating, rowing and gymnastics. The world-known archeologist Karel Shkorpil, also a teacher at the high school, set in his turn the foundations of the organized tourism in 1902. By that time hunters had already united in an organization of their own /1889/ and there had also been established a local structure of the national gymnast association “Yunak” in the Black Sea town.
The Varna activists were the first to adopt the club principle of organization of sports activities and contributed, through the North Bulgarian Sports League, to the nationwide unification of the sports movement. They were also the first ones to insist the state and the communities to participate actively through tax reductions and other preferences of their competence into the development and popularization of the physical training and sports among the citizens. Indicative of the fruitful beginning, set by the pioneers in the field of sports activities, was that for the cause of the sorts there worked 595 clubs, societies, unions, schools, associations, confederations and other formations, some of which through their heirs continue working for the same cause to this day, after more than a century.
Seen through the prism of this fact there is nothing surprising that from the end of the 19th century to the present the citizens of Varna have practiced 168 sports and sports games, which in their predominant part, aimed at the realization of the most popular among the citizens of the Black Sea town since ancient times motto, “A Strong Spirit - In A Strong Body”!
In the chronicles of the Varna sports it is written that the first Varna citizens stood under the flag of the five Olympic rings in Paris in 1924. These were Prodan Georgiev /cycling/ and Nikola Marinov /football/. The sports activists from the Black Sea town sent 110of their athletes to the next summer Olympic games, four participants were sent to the para-Olympics and five more – to the chess Olympics. Pride to the town brought the Olympic champions in boxing Ivaylo Marinov and Daniel Petrov, Ismail Abilov – wrestling and the three time gold medalist from the para-Olympic games Georgi Sakelarov. Varna also takes pride in its 12 vice-champions form summer Olympic games in boxing, wrestling, weight lifting, gymnastics, rowing and equestrian sports, as well as in its seven citizens, winners of bronze medals with the five Olympic rings.
It is worth mentioning that Varna citizens have taken part in competitions of continental and world scale. The world champions alone are 75 /some of them having several titles/ in 13 sports, and those winning up to the sixth place number 248 in 22 sports. The bearers of European titles are 35. It should also be added that Varna citizens have broken the world records in six sports 43 times and have entered their names against ten records in the Guinness Record Book, among which the one person world-round trip in a single-hull yacht, standard built – that of Captain Georgi Georgiev.
Varna sent overseas Georgi Glushkov, the first east-European who dared compete with the professional stars from the National Basketball Association in the USA.
World and European achievements have gained also the alpine climbers and the speleologists, among which loom out the climbing of the unknown and nameless peak in the Andes, named by the Varna climber Bulgaria, the world record in deep cave descent, 1370 m., made by Diana Pencheva in the Snezhnaya cave in the Caucasus mountain and the European record in level difference, 8474 m., which belongs to Christo Raikov, who climbed a 7116 м. High peak in the Pamir mountains and then passed through the first siphon of the Jean Bernard cave in the alps reaching the depth of 1358 m.
Three more facts should be added to the recognition of Varna for its substantial contribution to the development of sports on a world-wide scale. During different periods 20 Varna citizens have taken part in different committees and commissions, 87 people have been unbiased referees of world rank, and the respected sports specialists in Varna who have and still work are 96. A lot of foreign sports activists, among whom several well-known ones, claim that Varna has often been a focal point of the attention of the sports planet. It should also be born in mind that the city has hosted 25 world championships, six world and one Olympic qualifications. Varna has also been the host to the participants of 35 European championships, 11 European qualifications and 14 Balkan games. Warm memories from their participation have been kept by thousands of competitors for the different cups, prizes and awards in 438 international tournaments, motor- and avio-racings, sailing races, sports festivals, sessions and marches, organized by the public of the Black Sea city in support of the world sport development. Among these events are tournaments with the longest history in Europe such as those in women volleyball and sports gymnastics, which have attracted world stars in those two sports from different generations for tens of years. And it is by no means by chance that the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna has been hosting the preliminary group tournaments of the World Volleyball League in which the Bulgarian team has also taken part in order to turn each of the matches into a real feast of the volleyball game…