Topic: News: The 2008 Bulgarian Doping Scandal

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Bulgarian coach resigns following doping scandal

SOFIA - Bulgaria's national weightlifting coach Plamen Asparuhov has taken full responsibility for a doping scandal that forced the withdrawal of his team ahead of the Beijing Olympics and tabled his resignation, weightlifting federation chief Anton Kodzhabashev said Wednesday.

‘Asparuhov tabled his resignation at the federation's general assembly Monday evening in the southern town of Asenovgrad... It was accepted,’ Kodzhabashev told AFP.

‘He said that he was taking full responsibility for what happened,’ the federation chief added.

All eight men and three women athletes on Bulgaria's preliminary squad for the Beijing Olympics tested positive in late June for the anabolic steroid metandienon.

All lifters denied any wrongdoing but the Bulgarian weightlifting federation was forced, for the first time in its history, to pull the whole team ahead of Olympic Games.

In September, the International Weightlifting Federation banned for life two of the country's top athletes, Georgy Markov and Alan Tsagaev, while the other nine weightlifters got four-year bans.

The federation was also fined to pay 465,000 dollars to the IWF for the offence while the Bulgarian Olympic Committee cut its funding.

Kodzhabashev said Wednesday that he does not intend to hire a new coach for the team.

‘We do not need a new coach. We are not preparing athletes for any competition as most of the banned weightlifters, who are now aged 25 and over and banned for four years, have decided to quit,’  he said.

The chief added that he would try to lobby to cut some of the athletes' bans to two years and give them a chance to return to the sport.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Bulgarian weightlifting coach resigns

SOFIA, Bulgaria: Bulgaria national weightlifting coach Plamen Asparuhov took responsibility for a doping scandal that barred the team from competing at the Beijing Olympics and said Wednesday his resignation had been accepted.

Asparuhov said he handed in his resignation to the national weightlifting federation at a board meeting Monday.

"I took the moral responsibility for everything that happened to our team," Asparuhov said.

Eight members of the men's team and three women tested positive during out-of-competition tests last June. That prompted the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation to withdraw its national teams — men and women — from the Olympics.

The federation identified the banned substance as methandienone.

In September, the International Weightlifting Federation banned two of the athletes, Georgi Markov and Alan Tsagaev, for life, while the other nine got four-year bans.

The coach and all lifters denied any wrongdoing.

Asparuhov said he hoped that the international federation will reconsider its decision and cut the term of their bans to two years.

"These athletes should be given a chance for training and getting back to competitions after two years," Asparuhov said. "This is the only way we could have a strong team for the London Olympics in 2012."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Bulgarian Weightlifter Caught Doping Becomes Soldier

One of the Bulgarian weightlifters who were caught doping and missed the Olympics in Beijing has enrolled in the army, where he is to serve until his 4-year ban to compete expires.

According to sources, the sports club in the town of Isperih did not help Ivaylo Filev to find a permanent job after the ban and the 21-year-old weightlifter had no choice but to become a paid soldier.

Filev competes in the 62 kg category and has participated in a world championship winning a bronze medal.

In June during a training camp the entire Olympic team of eleven Bulgarian weightlifters tested positive for the anabolic steroid methandienone and did not travel to Beijing.