Clean Sheet In Beijing | Breaking News ... Bulgaria Lifters Want A - Ski
Asparuhov knows that the lifters will be monitored verystrictly in China and says the Beijing Games will be the perfectsetting for the Bulgarian team to prove their credentials. Boevski's team mates Zlatan Vanev and Georgi Markov weregiven 18-month suspensions in 2004 after the InternationalWeightlifting Federation (IWF) said their urine samples had comefrom one person. Bulgaria has a controversial history in women'sweightlifting as well. Critics say doping is still rife in Bulgarian sport,particularly in weightlifting, raising further concerns beforeBeijing but officials say they have taken stringent action toprevent any more transgressions. Despite losing some ground after the fall of communism in1989, weightlifting continues to be one of the most respectedsports in Bulgaria. In 1988, in a soccer-type deal, Suleymanoglu moved to Turkeyon a $1-million transfer. Ivan Abadzhiev, the mastermind of thecountry's success, was voted coach of last century. Izabela Dragneva triumphed as the sport's first femaleOlympic champion at the 2000 Games but was stripped of her goldmedal following a positive drug test. Many will remember Naim Suleymanoglu -- "The PocketHercules" -- and triple Olympic champion Halil Mutlu as Turkishathletes but they were born in Bulgaria and began their careerscompeting for their native land. Mutlu moved to Bulgaria's southeastneighbour for nothing when he was 16. Oil-rich Qatar reportedly paid $1 million for a stable ofnine Bulgarian lifters before the Games in Athens as they builtup a team. Only the former Soviet Union has won more medals thanBulgaria in weightlifting's major championships but the Balkancountry has also come to represent the sleazy side of the sport. The Bulgarian men won three golds, including two for the22-year-old Ivan Stoitsov in the 77-kg contest, at lastSeptember's world championships which were dominated by China.
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