Between 1980 and 1981, Bulgarian female athletes like Daniela Nenova, Emilia Kunova, and Valentina Dimitrova made rapid progress in pentathlon and heptathlon, setting national records and achieving personal bests in multiple competitions,
East Germany, led by Ramona Neubert and Sybille Thiele, were favorites in Sofia, while Bulgaria and the USSR provided strong competition despite key absences.
How many ways can we say, “ Roman Šebrle of the Czech Republic is the world’s greatest performer ever in the century ‐old tradition of the decathlon? I can think of at least five: Šebrle’s uniqueness, longevity, consistency,