> biography
My name’s Ivaylo Krasimirov Danailov, but my friends call me Ivo. I was born on 06/09/1986 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. My mother, Marusia Danailova (nèe Hristova), was one of the best Bulgarian orienteers in the past – she has participated in many international competitions, WOCs and SWOCs, making some impressing for the Bulgarian level results. My father, Krasimir Danailov, is the typical coach – using most of his time on his passion – helping others being better in reaching their dreams. He’s been coach of the different Bulgarian national teams for many many years. He is the best Bulgarian coach. I also got one little sister – Simona. In August 2008 she moved to Norway, to live and train here, so it says it all – orienteer as well. My family was the thing that put me in the forest at very young age – when I was 7 I started in the Bulgarian National Youth Championship – running in M12. My basic knowledge in the orienteering I have from the great cooperation and work with my father and my teammates. During the first 18 years of my life I ran for one of the best Bulgarian clubs : SKOB”Mladost” from Blagoevgrad. This club gave, and continue to give Bulgaria many national team runners (like nowadays best in the women Liudmila Gotseva, Lachezar Iliev, Marusia Hristova, Plamen Dzambazov, …)
In 2001 I started training seriously, with the help of my father. The results came shortly : I became one of the best competitors at my age in Bulgaria. In 2002 I participated in EYOC (European Youth Orienteering Championship) in Poland, presenting the National Youth team for 1st time. Unfortunately, this EYOC was one of my worst competitions ever, taking a last place… But it helped me gaining motivation for the next 20 years – then I knew that nothing’s free in the orienteering – you have to train, train, train, and then you can win. In 2003 I, aged 16, participated in JWOC (Junior World Orienteering Championship) in Pölva, Estonia, and in 2004 in EYOC – Salzburg, Austria, and JWOC – Poland. In 2005 I was not selected in the Junior Team, due to low performance during the test races. Frustrating, but my results were a fact. Otherwise, I ran very good in the Bulgarian Park Cup in M21E, where I won etappe, beating the second man with more than 30 seconds, and managed to win the Bulgaria cup.
I’ve been driven by my high ambitions,so I decided to train as hard as I can, and to continue educating and developing as best orienteer. I want to give my country and club the good results they deserve. For me and my coach, the only way to get into the world elite was to live and train in Nordic country, where the level is greater than everywhere. As I was accepted as a student in Hedmark University College in Hamar, I decided that Norway will be the best way for me. I came to Norway in August 2005, here I represented Løten O-Lag : one of the best junior clubs in the world. For me this club was the ideal for developing my orienteering abilities.
After studying and training one year in Norway I began to be fluent in the language, and more confident in my orienteering skills. Then I decided to move to some other city, where the possibilities are better. It was not so easy to decide, but after all I moved to Kristiansand in the summer of 2006. There I found all I need – accomodation just a few meters from the training terrain, good weather and university studies that passed me well. I started studying informatics, which gave me some extra time for concentrating on my trainings and work.
So, since 2007 I’m representing Kristiansand Orienteringsklubb – the club that showed the world who’s the best in this business by wining 10Mila and being the club with most medallists from the World Championship in 2008.
During the 2008 season, the first major breakdown came to my life – I got injured and missed almost the whole season due to that. Even though my plans for the 2009 season were big, the second breakdown came shortly after I finally came back on track : just a week before Tiomila I got the TWAR-diagnosis, and for a second season in a row I was just watching orienteering on the internet, and was not being able to run at all.
Now I’m starting again, staying at Ground Zero and planning how to fullfill my Project Comeback.
