The Dream of Olympia

An interview with Petar Toshkov – national fencing champion

When he arrived at the Chicago Airport on January 2, 1992, he was just 18 years old with a mere 150 USD in his pocket. He had the phone number of a Bulgarian, who helped him find cheap lodgings in a ghetto. One third of the money went on the rent! He started looking for a job on the very next day. Any job. He could not speak English, but he was young, daring and resolved to succeed. America does not welcome anyone with open arms. “I did all sorts of jobs until I saved some money and learned some English: I used to be a driver, a toilet cleaner and what not. If you want to make it in the USA, you must be tenacious. And if you are an outstanding sportsman, it is a little easier. I was lucky.”

America gave me a lot, but the only thing that matters there is money

The first two years in Chicago were tough. He gave up fencing to get back on his feet again. At the end of 1993, after a week of training in a private club, he went in for the US Fencing Championship and won the gold medal. “My dream was to leave Illinois and the Middle States altogether. There were not very good fencers there. So one day I got in my car and made my way to San Francisco. The famous Serb Zoran Tulum (who had previously trained with the Etropolsky brothers in Bulgaria) was senior coach of Stanford and the national female foil team. I did not know him personally, but when I called him he received me very cordially. I explained to him that I was keen on fencing and that I could not go without a job for more than 3 or 4 months. He hired me as an assistant coach. He paid me from his own pocket. This went on until I found a private fencing club in the capital of the Silicon Valley, San Jose, which was looking for a coach. I worked there for five full years. Fencing presupposes well-developed brains. Therefore it should be taken up no earlier than the age of 12 or 13.

There will be a Russian Language Test Centre in Sofia University

On February 16, a contract for partnership was signed between “St. Kliment Ohridski” University of Sofia and Forum “Bulgaria – Russia”. This launched a project for the formation of a Russian language test centre for the Balkans and South-East Europe. An honorary witness of the event was His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Titov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Bulgaria.