Velik Kapsazov

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Velik Nikolov Kapsazov (April 15, 1935 – March 27, 2017) was a Bulgarian artistic gymnast. Born in Asenovgrad, he started in weightlifting before switching to gymnastics and joined Bulgaria’s national team in 1954. He competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games in all gymnastics events. In 1960, he won a bronze medal on the rings, tying with Takashi Ono; it was Bulgaria’s first Olympic medal in gymnastics. A memorable moment: his coach was sent back to save money, and another coach had to lift him onto the rings to begin his routine. He had his medal engraved with his teammates’ names in the order they competed in the all-around.

Kapsazov also found success at the European Championships, winning bronze on rings in 1959 and taking gold on rings in 1961 and 1963. At the 1961 Summer Universiade in Sofia, he won bronze in the all-around and gold on rings and on the parallel bars. After retiring after the 1964 Olympics, he became a coach, mentoring gymnasts including Yordan Yovchev. He stood about 1.67 meters tall.