In this year’s Four Hills Tournament, Vladimir Zografski was 36th overall. There was no sports frenzy, but the Bulgarian is an interesting personality for several reasons and it’s worth taking a closer look.

He is associated with Poland, not only by name. He speaks Polish well. He lives in Poland permanently. He has a Polish wife and a two-year-old daughter. His trainers are two Poles: Grzegorz Sobczyk and Andrzej Zapotoczny. He represents Bulgaria, known for many disciplines besides ski jumping.

Ski fans are interested in Zografski because of his connections to Poland. But his jumps in competitions cool them off rather than turn them on. Terms such as “flightless” appear online. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian can impress. If not by results, then through determination and sporting character.

Zografski is living proof of the valid theory that talent alone is not enough. Innate abilities do the trick 10% of the time at best. The rest is hard work, discipline and self-confidence. This is especially true in critical moments when a crisis needs to be overcome.

Supposedly all athletes know this, but not everyone has enough character to convince themselves of it. Particularly in ski jumping, the problem of discipline and self-discipline creates problems. Social events and alcohol have destroyed many an idol.

But the Bulgarian must have something within him. Because he has been working hard on himself for years. Patiently and consistently he climbs higher. His career has been an obstacle course. When he stumbles and falls, he gets back up and fights on. In short – never give up.

Time is running out and the Bulgarian is chasing

Vladimir Zografski started jumping when he was 11 years old. When he was 15, he made his first Ski Jumping World Cup appearance in Pragelato. Although he was just making its debut, he didn’t come in last. He took 43rd place. And he immediately got to work, so that next time it would be better.

The results came quickly. In 2009 he won silver at the European Youth Olympics Festival. In 2011 – gold at the Junior World Ski Championships. In 2015 he won the Universiade. A collection of successes confirmed great talent. But it wasn’t that easy anymore. Suddenly, a staircase appeared before him.

Whoever starts with medals and suddenly falls into a ditch has to be hard as granite, or they’re out. This is what happens to many young people who enjoy talent but can’t pull themselves together when a wall appears that has to be overcome all over again.

So-called early bloomers, and the Bulgarian looks like he was one, shine in youth competitions and disappear in adult sport. However, Zografski was able to start over. To calm his head and set subsequent goals spread over time. And to jet like the Road Runner...

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  He survived a few seasons of sporting doldrums, from which the well-known coach Aleksander Pointner couldn’t find a way out. Finally, he changed his coach and country. He moved to Slovenia, under the training care of the Slovenian Matjaz Zupan. Only then did things get going.

Vladimir was making visible progress, but not to the extent that he really wanted to. He didn’t give up on his plans. He keeps the goal that drives him on the horizon. Because he wants to be one of the best on the hills, not just an extra or a backdrop for the stars.

He doesn’t lack ambition. He doesn’t lack stubbornness. He showed talent as a kid and confirmed it as a teenager. However, things on the hill aren’t going his way. He scored some points in the World Cup, but it’s not what he dreams of.

One of the reasons are likely the exceptionally frequent disqualifications that prevent him from proving himself. Maybe the judges don’t like him? Maybe because he’s not part of a family? Bulgaria currently just has this only child, so he brings next to nothing to the business. Promotionally, and therefore financially.

Training mistakes early on in his development are more likely though. Apparently, his father Emil, who was a jumper himself and trained him at the beginning, went overboard with strength work. Excess “gym-time” can derail coordination and create bad movement habits that are difficult to change years later.

Since Vladimir personally took the reins of his career, he is looking for new approaches and is constantly trying. He searches and tries in the right environment. There was Slovenia, where they have ski jumpers and traditions. Now its Poland, the country of the sport’s leaders. Time is running out and the Bulgarian is chasing, although he is already nearing 30.

No one pays for showing up

Vladimir Zografski isn’t the first Bulgarian on the international scene. In the 1990s, Vladimir Brejchev and Zachari Sotirov competed and scored points in World Cups. Emil Dimitrow Zografski, Vladimir’s father, also participated in these competitions.

Bulgarian athletes are known for other disciplines, probably the most as weightlifters and wrestlers. In addition to Bulgarians, the country is inhabited by various ethnic groups, such as Turks, Roma and Romanians. Ski jumping is practiced sparingly there.

In Samoków, where Zografski comes from, and in Borowec, there are small ski jumping hills where kids learn the basics of this discipline. However, there is no large facility where the World Cup circus could be hosted, to stimulate interest in this sport, or to boost the jumping boom.

Such a hill is yet to be built, but so far all this competition is based on one name. Contrary to appearances, the situation is not bad for Zografski. Just the opposite, it’s even comfortable. Nobody expects miracles. And each of his successes has the caliber of a historical breakthrough.

The fact that no one puts much pressure on him doesn’t mean that Vladimir is taking it easy. If that was the case, he would have given up long ago. However, he never gives up trying to jump further and better. That’s why he settled in Poland and started working with Grzegorz Sobczyk.

Sobczyk went through a good school of initiation and experience. He was a record-seeking competitor, although he didn’t have a great career on the hills. His greatest international achievement is a team silver at the Universiade.

Life has shown more than once that average sports achievements are not a hindrance to a future coach, but an asset. As home-grown examples, Kazimierz Górski and Feliks Stamm also didn’t set the world on fire as competitors. They absolutely did as coaches. If you don’t know who they were, Google it.

The experience gained from sport is invaluable in this profession. It gives knowledge that no university can give. You can build a coaching career on it. First of all, effective communication with the athletes, because you know their mentality and how it works.

Coach Sobczyk started working as a trainer for the A squad of the national team, and at the same time as assistant to Łukasz Kruczek. Then he was successively an assistant to Stefan Horngacher and Michal Dłużal. He was tossed out with the latter when our Polish eagles lost their wings. Scapegoats had to be found, and these two fit the bill.

Maybe there is nothing wrong with that... Zografski is impressed by Szymczak’s professionalism and knowledge. He said so in several interviews. He didn’t know him personally before. And it probably would have stayed that way if fate and the Polish Ski Association (PZN) hadn’t decided otherwise.

Andrzej Zapotoczny was also an active competitor and looked promising as a young and talented athlete. He also acquired practice in working with the Polish national team, though with the juniors. He was a trainer, physiotherapist and technical coach. And it was as a technical coach that he started cooperating with the Bulgarian.

I don’t know if anyone can foresee how Zografski’s career will develop. I suspect that neither coach would be willing to risk a precise or even approximate prognosis as well. In sports, nothing is certain except what happened.

The jumper has his own philosophy, which he sticks to. He is convinced that he can do it and age won’t stop him. He believes that development is still possible after 30. There is some evidence of this. Noriaki Kasai or Janne Ahonen flew long and far.

But there is a subtle difference. The Japanese and Finnish skiers were achieving outstanding results before they started jumping in delayed retirement. They relied on championship skills, well-established movement habits and vast experience. Zografski isn’t on the same level.

He wants to catch up, to achieve delayed perfection. It’s as if he believes in reverse engineering, supposedly used by NASA with alien technology. I’m not even surprised because Kasai and Ahonen are alien-like. Especially since the latter was an alcoholic.

Nevertheless, the man has a chance to make some progress. New stimuli from new coaches offers an opportunity. It usually works well. They stimulate the athlete’s body, nourishing their psyche. Sometimes for a short time, sometimes for longer. In any case, Vladimir is counting on it.

And not only him, the Bulgarian Ski Federation as well. The current composition of their national ski jumping team is one Bulgarian competitor and two Polish coaches. This simplifies basic financial matters. Possible bonuses in the form of high placings in competitions depend on the coach’s brain and the competitor’s legs, who complains about the lack of sponsors.

Ski jumping is not soccer. No one pays anyone just for participating. You have to score points to earn money. The more, the merrier, but without bravado. The first 30 get the money, but the end of the pay scale is measly. Last place picks up about 100 Swiss francs (~$108).

I have no idea if Zografski will ever be able to win the Four Hills Tournament. Such compensation for the lack of sponsors would be nice, although without repeats and many good placings in the World Cup, it’s unlikely to set him up for civilian life after he retires.

After numerous fights and reforms, this year's Four Hills Tournament winner received 100,000 francs (~$108,000), more or less as much as Szymon Marciniak in Qatar for refereeing the World Cup final. As a courtesy, I will omit players’ salaries. Well, Vladimir didn’t become a soccer player, he chose jumping because he has an irresistible passion for it.

Everyone must jump head first...

Zografski’s cooperation with Polish coaches stimulated, or rather refreshed, interest in him as an athlete. Since he lives in Poland, communicates in our language, married a Polish woman and received the support of the Polish training philosophy, then perhaps Polish blood flows in him. Some spin it like this.

There is no indication of it however, though the Bulgarian’s ties with the country on the Vistula river seem to be strong and lasting. And their source is a romance story from seven years ago. Journalist Agnieszka Skowron arranged an interview with the athlete, having no idea that she would be making a lifetime appointment.

But somehow it worked out. The Polish journalist fell in love with the Bulgarian jumper at first sight and vice versa, he fell in love with her. It was 2016, and in 2017 Vladimir was already living in Krakow. In 2019, they got married in Częstochowa.

They were united by love and family ties. The wife helps her husband learn Polish. He managed to convince himself that our language is not easy. However, he works on it regularly, because his ambition and stubbornness aren’t limited to sport.

His passion for ski jumping hasn’t diminished. In a sense, he’s starting his career all over again. And he never loses hope that better days will come, and his name will appear in the top-place rankings.

The media loves the stars. They painstakingly describe their performances and private lives. But they rarely go deeper. They hardly care about the second-tier characters at all. But they are the salt of the sport. Because all athletes start with dreams. Only a few fulfill them.

Great sport is born in silence and without cameras. Key decisions are made in back rooms, in the gym or on the practice fields. Nobody is guaranteed success. But everyone has to jump headfirst, having no idea where it’ll go or what obstacles they’ll run into. Sport can’t be practiced half-heartedly and insurance is not an option. Either it succeeds or it doesn’t. Whoever wants to be a champion has no choice.

And to be a champion, you have to believe in yourself, because stars don’t fall from the sky. You must not lose hope and keep trying no matter what. This is the basic rule of sports. Zografski’s career illustrates it clearly. For that reason alone, it was worth taking a closer look at him.

– Marek Jóźwik

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and journalists

–Translated by Nicholas Siekierski