The morning before the closing ceremony of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, two young Bulgarian athletes waited nervously in the athletes village in Yoyogi
SOFIA – The morning before the closing ceremony of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, two young Bulgarian athletes waited nervously in the athletes village in Yoyogi Park.
Expecting only to compete for their country, they had suddenly found themselves about to get married in the world’s first wedding to be held inside an athletes village.
“There have now been 17 marriages during the Olympics. All 16 others have ended in divorce,” said Nikolai Prodanov, 78, bursting into laughter in his apartment in Sofia. “At least we haven’t got divorced yet!”
After 53 years of marriage to his wife, Diana Yorgova, two daughters and four grandchildren, divorce seems unlikely to be in the cards.
Nikolai was 24 and a promising young gymnast with one Olympic Games and a World Students Championships already under his belt when he landed in Tokyo as part of the Bulgarian delegation.
With him was 21-year-old Diana, ready to compete for Bulgaria in her first-ever Olympic long-jump competition.
Their marriage was no case of love at first sight, but of a four-year friendship that slowly blossomed into romance as they got to know each other as part of Bulgaria’s athlete circle.
“I kept on trying to get her to kiss me but she always refused,” Nikolai recalled. “Until one day she told me she had finally got the feeling I was serious about her.”
The couple gained the blessing of their parents before leaving for Japan to marry on Nikolai’s birthday in May 1965, and impending nuptials were far from Diana’s mind as she prepared for competition.
“My mission was the games, not marriage,” Diana said. “He was always trying to meet up with me, but I would tell him I was here to focus only on the long jump.”
Avoiding Nikolai’s advances was made easier by the tall wire fence that had been erected between the men’s and women’s accommodations to prevent any untoward behavior.
While Nikolai did not manage to get past either the fence or the preliminary stages for the men’s pommel horse, Diana leaped her way to sixth in the women’s long-jump finals.
