Yoto Vasilev Yotov (Bulgarian: Йото Василев Йотов, born May 22, 1969) is a Bulgarianweightlifter. Yotov is one of the greatest Bulgarian weightlifters of all time. He is a two-time Olympic silver medalist, three-time world champion, six-time European champion, winner of the 1991 World Cup. Holds a total of 51 medals from the Olympic Games, World and European Championships in total, snatch and clean and jerk - 22 gold, 22 silver and 7 bronze. Because of his long career and many medals, he has been called the Professor. He was voted Sportsperson of the Year of Bulgaria for 1997. In 2020 he was awarded the highest state honors of Bulgaria in the field of sports - the Wreath of the winner. He began training in 1984. He has competed for the clubs Minor Pernik, Levski and Dobrich. At the 1988 World and European Junior Championships in Athens became second. A year later in Fort Lauderdale, USA, he became the World Junior Champion. Following is a great career for men with three world titles, six European titles and two silver medals from the Olympics, as well as many other medals from major championships. Among them three bronze medals from the Goodwill Games in 1990 in Seattle. At the end of his career, he competed for Croatia but did not win medals.
Yotov was competing as recently as October 2006. He represented Croatia in the Men's 85kg class. He placed 17th with a snatch of 150kg and jerk of 190kg for a total of 340kg.
Giorgi Asanidze is a Georgian former weightlifter, Olympic Champion, World Champion, and three time European Champion who competed in the 85 kg and 77 kg categories.
Michaela Alica Breeze is a British former weightlifter. Breeze was born in Watford and raised in Cornwall and educated at Wadebridge School. She started weightlifting under the guidance of PE teacher Dave Allen. Breeze then went on to Bodmin Community College before attending the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. Breeze is well known for commentating at various events including Rio Olympics and Tokyo Olympics.
Yurik Sarkisyan is a former Soviet Armenian weightlifter. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1982. In 2007, Yurik Sarkisyan included into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame weightlifting.
Yanko Rusev is a former Olympic weightlifter for Bulgaria.
Stefan Khristov Botev is an Olympic weightlifter who represented Bulgaria and later competed for Australia. He was coached by Ivan Abadzhiev. Botev is a two-time world and European champion, winner of the World Cup in 1988 and was voted as Bulgaria's Sportsperson of the Year in 1990. Stefan is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist - once for Bulgaria in 1992 and once for Australia in 1996. Botev is a three-time gold medalist from the Goodwill Games in Seattle in 1990.
Ivan Ivanov Ivanov is a Bulgarian former weightlifter and current head coach of the national Bulgarian weightlifting teams. He claimed one gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games, four time World Champion, and five time European Champion. He won the 1990 World Cup. Ivan also won 1991 World Cup Final in Barcelona and 1990 World Cup Final in Tainan, and in 1989 in Lisbon he finished second. In 1990, he became a gold medalist in Total and Clean, and Jerk and silver, medalist in Snatch of the Goodwill Games in Seattle. Ivanov was named the Best Weightlifter in the World by the International Weightlifting Federation for 1989 and 1990. Ivanov is also a three-time World Junior Champion and twice European Junior Champion. He was elected as the best coach of Bulgaria for 2019 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country together with the trainer on rhythmic gymnastics Vesela Dimitrova.
Blagoy Blagoev is a retired Bulgarian weightlifter. Between 1976 and 1984 he claimed seven gold and five silver medals at the Summer Olympics and World and European championships. He set 18 world records. 13 of them were in the snatch. His last snatch world record was 195.5 kg in the 90 kg weight class, set on 1 May 1983 in Varna and remains the heaviest weight ever snatched by a middle heavyweight. Blagoev was twice declared the Best Weightlifter in the World by the International Weightlifting Federation - in 1982 and 1983. Blagoev was named Sportsperson of the Year in Bulgaria for 1982.
Vencelas Dabaya Tientcheu is a French weightlifter. He is a former World Champion, European champion and Olympic silver medalist in weightlifting.
Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin is a retired Kazakhstani weightlifter who won four world championships and was regarded as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time, until banned for doping abuse in both 2008 and 2012 Olympics. On 12 December, 2015 at the President's Cup in Grozny, Russia, Ilyin set two world records in the −105 kg class. He lifted 246 kg in the clean and jerk and 437 kg in the total. Ilyin was named IWF World Weightlifter of the Year four times: in 2005, 2006, 2014, and 2015.
Asen Zlatev is a former Bulgarian weightlifter.
Aleksandar Varbanov was a weightlifter for Bulgaria. Varbanov is one of the greatest weightlifters of all-time. Alexander has the 9th highest Sinclair ever of 485.78 made up of a 167.5 kg snatch and a 215 kg clean and jerk at under 75 kg in body weight! He is without a doubt the greatest clean and jerker of that bodyweight of all-time. As well as being a sensational athlete, Alexander Varbanov was part of the most dominant team in weightlifting history: The Bulgarian national team of the 1980s. He was also coached by the most successful coach of all-time, the great Ivan Abadjiev, a man whom Varbanov referred to as being ‘closer to me than my father. Alex has won numerous World Championships and European Championships in the 67.5 and 75 kg bodyweight divisions and a Bronze Medal from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He has earned 10 official world records two still current to this date, 215.5 kg Clean and Jerk and 382.5 kg Total. He started training in 1977. Until 1981 he was a competitor of the native Novi Pazar. Then in the period 1981-1984 he competed for CSKA Sofia. Then until 1990 he was part of the Levski club. From 1990 to 1995 Varbanov competed for the German team AC Mutterstadt in Weightlifting Bundesliga. He has built a strong reputation of a weightlifting professional. He has a Master’s degree from the National Sports Academy of Bulgaria and is a Honored Master of Sports. Alex is NCCP certified Olympic Weightlifting Competition Development coach. He now lives and works as a weightlifting trainer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Antonio Krastev was a Bulgarian super heavyweight Olympic-style weightlifter best known for his 1987 heaviest ever snatch in IWF competition, at 216 kg. This was only equalled by Behdad Salimi of Iran at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and finally surpassed at the 2017 European Championships by Lasha Talakhadze, who now holds the record of 225 kg. Krastev's record was no longer official after the restructuring of the weight classes in 1993 and 1998. Krastev is a two-time world and European champion. He was also world junior champion in 1981 and runner-up in 1979. Antonio has six gold medals from World Cup tournaments and has a silver medal from the 1986 World Cup final in Melbourne. The Bulgarian giant is also a two-time Balkan champion and a ten-time Bulgarian champion - five for men and five for juniors. In 1987, he won the Golden Boot award for best performance at the European Championships in Reims, France.
Lasha Talakhadze is a Georgian weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the total since 2021.
Angel Angelov Genchev is a Bulgarian weightlifter who competed for Bulgaria. He claimed the gold medal in weightlifting at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 67.5 kg but was disqualified after he tested positive for furosemide, an IOC banned substance. It became a scandal because earlier in the meet fellow Bulgarian weightlifter Mitko Grablev had also been disqualified, after claiming a gold medal in his division, when his drug test came back positive, also for furosemide. The Bulgarian weightlifting team was forced to withdraw midway through the Weightlifting competition. Of six athletes known to have lifted more than triple their bodyweight, Genchev's 202.5 kg world record was the heaviest ever performed in competition. Genchev is a European champion in the 75 kg category from Cardiff in 1988. He was also a bronze medalist at the 1994 World Championships in Istanbul. He won the European Cup in Reims 1986 and Miskolc 1987 with the team of Bulgaria. There he set a world record in snatch - 170 kg. Angel is a four-time World and European junior champion.
Fares Ibrahim Saed Hassouna El-Bakh, commonly known as Meso Hassouna, is a Qatari weightlifter of Egyptian origin. He is an Olympic Champion, World Champion and two time Junior World Champion competing in the 85 kg, and 94 kg categories until 2018 and 96 kg and 102 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Shota Mishvelidze is a Georgian male weightlifter, and European Champion competing in the 62 kg category until 2018 and 61 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Yauheni Paulavich Tsikhantsou is a Belarusian weightlifter, World Champion and European Champion competing in the 94 kg category until 2018 and 96 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Akbar Djuraev is an Uzbekistani weightlifter, Olympic Champion and Junior World Champion. He won the gold medal in the men's 109kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He also won the gold medal in the men's 109kg event at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Karlos May Nasar is a Bulgarian weightlifter who is an Olympic, two-time World and two-time European champion and one of the youngest weightlifting world record holders ever.
Kamila Sergiivna Konotop is a Ukrainian weightlifter. She won the silver medal in the women's 59kg event at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She is a four-time medalist, including three gold medals, at the European Weightlifting Championships. Konotop represented Ukraine at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
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