Liubomir Asenov - The Capturer of Dreams

“The magic of sport is that nothing is staged. This is also the magic of sports photography. Everything happens in seconds.”

Liubomir Asenov is the owner and creator of LAP.bg, the biggest agency for sports photography in Bulgaria. Asenov has permanent access to Formula 1 which makes him the only Bulgarian photographer with such rights.  He was named as one of the top 15 sports photographers in the world in 2019 by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS).

This year Asenov accomplished a dream of his - to be a part of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. “The Olympics are the peak not only for athletes, but also for sports photographers. It was really tiring and cool. We slept between 3-5 hours a day. It is a very complex event where all kinds of things happen every day at any time. I can't compare it to absolutely anything I have been part of.” 

The Games were supposed to be held in the summer of 2020 but were postponed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that countries threatened not to participate. There were no fans in the stands to cheer on the athletes. Media representatives had no access to the Olympic Village where the athletes stayed because of health concerns.

As for the measures that had to be followed, Asenov says that they were quite standard. “We had to wear masks at all times and disinfect our hands when we entered and exited a room. I believe that there was no better country than Japan where the ‘Pandemic’ Olympics could be held.”

Asenov shared that the Bulgarian media representatives stayed at the Bulgarian Embassy in Tokyo. The only exceptions were the journalists from the Bulgarian National Television who were accommodated in media hotels outside the Olympic Village. “I want to thank the Ambassador of Bulgaria, Marieta Arabadjieva. She and her team did everything possible to make the Bulgarian media feel at home in Japan. None of us expected such an attitude. They are fantastic people,” he says.

From the sports he covered at the games, his favorite for shooting turned out to be swimming. “It is incredibly difficult to follow given that there are eight lanes and eight people spray water. Everything happens in a short time. There are many things I failed to do as photos so I will be preparing for future events.”

Asenov’s main mission at the games was to cover the Bulgarian athletes. For him, the place they took didn't matter as all of them have struggled and worked hard over years just to be there. While he did manage to follow all sports in which Bulgaria had representatives, he did not manage to shoot only five of the 42 Bulgarian athletes. “I apologize to them. It’s just that some days there were events which coincided, the distances were huge and I had to choose where to be. The athletes were captured in one way or another by other photographers. I hope to be able to cover everyone next time.”

Out of the six medals Bulgaria won (three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals), the only one Asenov missed was Evelina Nikolova’s bronze medal in wrestling as it coincided with karate where Ivet Goranova won gold. “There was another colleague at the wrestling and there would have been photos from there. I chose to bet on Ivet, because I had some inner feeling that things would work out and that I should be there. To my joy, she came first and I was the only Bulgarian photographer at this event,” he says.

For Asenov, each of the gold medals – Ivet Goranova’s in karate, Stoyka Krasteva’s in boxing, and in the group all-around in rhythmic gymnastics and the moments right after were magical. However, he felt the strongest emotion when Goranova triumphed in karate. “She went through her rivals like a tsunami. There was no doubt in any of the matches. She was there only for gold. I had to do everything possible for her to have a memory of her Olympic gold medal as karate will not be a part of the next Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Until karate returns to the program, Ivet Goranova will be an Olympic champion. After the award ceremony, she came down from the podium with the gold medal and told me ‘Take a picture so the whole of Bulgaria can see it.’ It was incredible.”

Asenov doesn't have a favorite photo from these Olympics. “They are all my favorites because I have experienced them in one way or another. For me, my favorite moments are the emotions of the Bulgarian athletes. Many of them thanked us for being there because they did not expect to have so many interested people to travel in such difficult times.”

While he may not have a personal favorite, one of his photos went viral in Bulgaria. It was of Antoaneta Kostadinova, who won silver in the Women’s 10 meter air pistol. It turns out he had the help of an acquaintance of his. “There are special positions for photographers who are from very large agencies like Reuters, Getty, and AP. These positions are the best for any event. We, ordinary photographers, who are not from these agencies, have access to similar positions, but they are not as good. On the day of the final, an acquaintance of mine turned out to be the photo manager of the event, a man I have known since my Formula 1 days and he let me be in the photo positions of the large agencies during the award ceremony. Big agencies always follow the gold medalist while for me the focus was on the silver medalist because she was Bulgarian.”

What follows now for Asenov is a short break. His next big goal is the Olympic Games in Paris, which are only three years from now. “I hope I will be there and do well again. For me, the Olympic Games in Tokyo were successful. In Paris, I hope there will be no pandemic and fans will be back to support athletes.”