When Cristiano Ronaldo showed up at Expo 2020 Dubai two weeks ago, there was, unsurprisingly, a frenzy to catch a glimpse of one of the greatest footballers of all time.
Before that, superstars like Lionel Messi and Usain Bolt had been among the many athletes to visit to the exhibition.
Expo 2020 has provided a platform for participating nations to showcase the best of their athletes to live audiences.
This week, Bulgaria’s gold-winning rhythmic gymnastics team at the Tokyo Olympics performed for crowds over two nights, one on the country’s special Expo Day.
“It was a real pleasure to be part of Expo 2020 in Dubai and perform two nights representing Bulgaria,” said Simona Dyankova, who was joined by colleagues Stefani Kiryakova and Erika Zafirova at the Bulgarian pavilion.
“The experience has been incredible. The crowd was very lively and we were warmly welcomed. We are extremely impressed by the hospitality and Expo 2020 hope that will come back soon again.”
For the young athletes, it was a chance to receive the acclaim that years of hard toil — and eventual success — deserved, but that had been denied to them as they performed and received their gold medals behind close doors in Japan.
“We’ve been together since 2016 until the Olympics,” said Dyankova. “Because the Olympics were postponed for one year, we had two years to prepare that amazing routine we did. And it was changing all the time during these two years, getting more complicated, and more complicated to make it perfect.”
The delay brought about by the pandemic had its negatives and positives.
“At the beginning it was very difficult for us of course, knowing that it’s postponed with that one year it was difficult to accept it,” said Zafirova. “Also it was very difficult to practice together because we couldn’t practice in the sports hall. But actually this one year gave us the time to make everything that amazing gave us the opportunity to indulge in the games.”
Dyankova added: “It was very difficult for us also because there were also rumors that there will be no Olympics at all, which was kind of heartbreaking after all these hours … but we tried not to pay attention and keep towards our goal.”
The team always maintained a belief that the rescheduled games in 2021 would be their moment of glory.
“As much as we believed that we could win at the Olympics, at the same time, it seemed really impossible that it could be done,” said Kiryakova. “Actually the gold medal, we hadn’t won it in Bulgaria at all, and we really wanted to bring that to Bulgaria and to be proud of it. And we knew that we had a really good chance because we had really the most complicated routine of all, and we knew that it’s really difficult, but (that) if we did it perfectly, we should win.”
The realization that they had claimed the top podium position took a while to sink in.
“There’s one word I can say about it, (it) felt like a miracle,” Kiryakova said. “It feels like something amazing happened, like you’re not connected to the earth. The feeling was really amazing.”
In that moment, the effort, through all the doubts brought about by the delay, wasl vindicated for the athletes.
“During these two years, we’ve imagined this moment so many times,” said Dyankova. “When it really happened it felt like all the labor we put into it, it was worth it. Finally, we managed to complete our dreams.”
And what does it feel like to represent Bulgaria at Dubai Expo?
“We were really happy to be here, it’s our first time in Dubai and we like it very much,” Dyankova said. “We’re really happy that we were chosen to represent Bulgaria, because we already showed that we can do that in the best possible way.”