THE OLYMPIC FLAME THROUGH BULGARIA – 1936

ABSTRACT The topic of this report is related to introducing information about the Olympic flame’s passing through Bulgaria in 1936. Our country takes a significant place in the development of the international Olympic movement. Since it participated in the first modern Olympic Games, our country has persisted in establishing the Olympic values in society through the gymnastics movement, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee activities, and other prominent sports people’s activities. An important feature related to Bulgarian sport’s involvement in the Olympic idea and the Olympic movement was our active participation in organizing the first carrying of the Olympic flame. This study aims to reveal new information on the topic. The research encompasses several major areas for collecting information – foreign literary sources research (13 sources); a survey of all publications by Bulgarian researchers-historians in the field of sport and the Olympic movement in Bulgaria (11 sources); a review of all preserved Bulgarian periodicals since 1936 (74 articles found), review of the „Olympia Zeitung“since 1936 (8 articles found) and review of Greek newspapers since 1936 (4 articles found). Methodologically, all the information found in scientific or popular publications was systematized by using content analysis, comparative analysis, and critical analysis. The keywords used to search for information on the topic were: Olympic Flame, Olympic Flame Torch, Olympic Games 1936, and Olympic symbols. For the aim of the research we used data retrieved from Journal of Olympic History, Journal of the History of Sport, International Olympic Academy, Olympic Review, www.academia.edu, as well as books and publications pre-served in the historical archive of National Sports Academy “Vassil Levski”, the Central National Archive, the Regional archives, and the regional history museums in the towns where the Olympic flame went through. In the unfavorable material and economic conditions in the 1930s our country created an excellent organization and turned this event into one of the most important social-cultural phenomena, which influenced the new perception about the role and significance of the Olympic Games and amateur sport.