Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev led the official farewell ceremony on July 20 2008 for the country's 73 athletes who will represent the country at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Bulgarian National Television reported.

The ceremony was held near Ariana Lake in central Sofia, and was also attended by Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev, State Agency for Youth and Sport chairperson Vessela Lecheva, Bulgarian Olympic Committee president Stefka Kostadinova and the Chinese ambassador in Sofia.

Stanishev told the athletes that Bulgaria had been one of the four countries that in 1896 had revived the Olympic tradition, and Bulgaria athletes had always participated in the Olympics. He pledged record bonuses for winning athletes.

The athletes will represent Bulgaria in 15 events, one fewer than initially planned given that the entire weightlifting team was withdrawn because of a doping scandal.

Bulgarian news agency Focus reported that the head of Bulgaria's state sports pools Georgi Markov presented Bulgarian Olympians with a golden ball - symbol of the sports pools - and wished them golden medals.

Lecheva gave the athletes a Bulgarian flag, while in her speech, Kostadinova urged the athletes to have self-confidence and fight to the end.

On July 19 2008, Focus reported Matei Kaziiski of the Bulgarian national volleyball team as saying, after the Bulgarian team's 3:1 triumph over the US, that the Bulgarian volleyball had strength for the finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

"It has the strength to become the title holder. I believe that we can do that," Kaziiski said.

"We can't speak about real potentialities because we haven't played at the Olympics for a long time. We have shown that in recent years that we are in the top five teams. Our place is there. I am an optimist because we are strong and we play very well," he said.