[4][5] Track and field and wrestling accounted for the largest number of athletes on the Bulgarian squad with 11 entries, nearly half of the nation's full roster size.

Sixteen Bulgarian athletes competed at London 2012, including four members of the rhythmic gymnastics squad (led by Mihaela Maevska-Velichkova, Albanian-born Elis Guri in Greco-Roman wrestling, pistol shooter and 2015 European Games silver medalist Antoaneta Boneva, and the country's fastest sprinter and two-time European champion Ivet Lalova-Collio in both the women's 100 and 200 metres).

[14] Meanwhile, one additional boat has been awarded to the Bulgarian squad in men's C-1 1000 m by virtue of a top two national finish at the 2016 European Qualification Regatta in Duisburg, Germany.

Pancho Paskov had claimed his Olympic spot in the men's sabre by finishing among the top four individuals at the European Zonal Qualifier in Prague, Czech Republic.

[18][19] Bulgaria received an invitation from UIPM to send Dimitar Krastanov in the men's modern pentathlon to the Olympics, as one of the next highest-ranked eligible individuals, not yet qualified, at the 2015 European Championships, signifying the nation's return to the sport for the first time since 2000.

71) had claimed one of six ITF Olympic women's singles places, as Bulgaria's top-ranked tennis player outside of direct qualifying position in the WTA World Rankings as of 6 June 2016.

On 11 May 2016, United World Wrestling awarded an additional Olympic license to Bulgaria in men's freestyle 125 kg, as a response to the doping violations for both the Belarusian and Ukrainian wrestler at the European Qualification Tournament.