After 4 intense months of training together, Teodor Velikov and Mariela Kostadinova are eager to compete in Acro Europeans

Actually, I didn't decide to come back, they called me from the Bulgarian Acrobatics Federation and said "we are looking for a partner for Mariela, she's a Youth Olympic Champion, do you want to come back to compete with her?" I haven't had a big opportunity like that and my dream has always been to compete as a part of a mixed pair. So, I said to myself, "now is your chance, you have to grab it and do what your heart wants to do

I hadn't been training during my break from gymnastics, I would just go to the regular gym and train like an ordinary boy. I stopped gymnastics for seven years, I didn't do any splits, any saltos, anything. It was extremely difficult to come back because most or probably even all of my flexibility was gone. The first month was really difficult. I had to get my flexibility and strength back. For that month, I had sore muscles every single day. I would wake up in the morning and my whole body hurt. It's this period until you get back and your body finally knows that now you're physically active again

Summer is the season of vacation, relaxing, beaches, but we were in the training hall the whole time - mornings, days, nights. We've given so much of ourselves to this and our coaches have as well, for which we're very grateful. To make a good pair, the one ready to represent Bulgaria at the European Championships, is very hard work. To make something wow and really big in just four months it's... not impossible, because there's nothing impossible, but it would be very hard. Our coaches and the Bulgarian federation really know where we are at this competition compared to other pairs. We're going to show our best here and now and, in the future, we'll give much more