site.btaBulgarian Team Tops Rankings at European Weightlifting Championships in Tirana

The Bulgarian team topped the rankings at the 2022 European Weightlifting Championships in Tirana, Albania, not only in the men's events but in the overall standings, which has never happened in the history of Bulgarian weightlifting.

Bulgaria won five titles out of ten weight categories in the men’s competition. (5 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 2 bronze medals). In the separate component lifts (snatch or clean and jerk), Bulgarian athletes claimed another 23 medals (small medals), 13 of which were gold.

The Bulgarian champions of Europe are Angel Rusev (men’s 55 kg category), Ivan Dimov (men’s 61 kg), Valentin Genchev (men’s 67 kg), David Fischerov (men’s 102 kg), and Hristo Hristov (men’s 109 kg). Karlos Nasar claimed silver medal in the men’s 89 kg weight class, while Gabriel Marinov (men’s 61 kg) and Bozhidar Andreev (men’s 81 kg) won bronze medals. Deniz Danev finished fourth in the men’s 55 kg, while Vasil Marinov finished fifth in the men’s 102 kg.

The Head of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation (BWF), Arif Majed (not formally registered as BWF president due to legal reasons), said that the Bulgarian success at the championship in Albania is highly valuable as there was a lot of aggression against the country’s national team and particularly against head coach Ivan Ivanov.

The court in Bulgaria is dealing with a claim for leadership of the federation by Nedelcho Kolev, the man who was beaten by Majed in the BWF presidential elections last May which led to lack of finances and uncertainties whether the Bulgarian team will participate in the championship. However, the Ministry paid for the team to compete in Tirana but the long-running dispute is unresolved yet.

“Last year, we had to pay with personal resources to participate in the men’s World Championship, then we gave up hosting the European Championship and participating in the Junior World Championship,” said Majed, which, according to him, deprived Bulgaria of the opportunity to win a few medals.

“I congratulate the athletes, the head coach and the rest of the staff, who were put to unprecedented and unprovoked pressure in recent months,” he added.

The last time Bulgaria had five European champions was at the Championship in Szekszard, Hungary, in 1992, when Sevdalin Minchev, Ivan Ivanov (current head coach of the national team), Nikolay Peshalov and Yoto Yotov won gold medals. Bulgaria’s best performance at European Championships dates back to the tournament in Reims (France) in 1987 when seven of the country’s athletes claim titles – Sevdalin Marinov, Mitko Grablev, Stefan Topurov, Mihail Petrov, Alexander Varbanov, Asen Zlatev and Antonio Krastev.

2022 European Championship Medal Table (total attempts/big medals):
             Gold    Silver    Bronze    Total:
1.    Bulgaria    5    1    2    8
2.    Ukraine    2    4    1    7
3.    Armenia    2    3    2    7
4.    Turkey    2    3    2    7
5.    Italy    2    2    0    3
6.    France    2    0    2    4
7.    Georgia    1    3    2    6
8.    Norway    1    0    1    2

2022 European Championship Medal Table (separate lifts/small medals):
              Gold    Silver    Bronze    Total:
1.    Bulgaria    13    5    5    23
2.    Ukraine    7    9    5    21
3.    Turkey    6    10    7    23
4.    Italy    6    2    2    10
5.    France    5    2    2    9
6.    Armenia    4    9    6    19
7.    Georgia    4    7    5    16
8.    Norway    4    0    1    5