Weightlifting

At the beginning of the 20th century in Bulgaria began to penetrate the modern forms of weightlifting - with bars, in several competitive exercises. Gradually, as a means of general physical development, weightlifting is identified as an independent sport. In the 1930s, the centers of this sport were formed in different cities of the country, and representatives for participation in various tournaments were nominated.

The big names of our sport at that time were Lyuben Bozev, Iliya Chobanov, Iliya Kalchev and others. The brightest figure in our history for this stage of our history is Lyuben Bozev, who on December 23, 1927 in Paris set a new world record in the exercise of lifting with an achievement of 109 kg.

This is the first Bulgarian world record in weightlifting, officially registered in 1928 in the annals of the International Federation of Weightlifting! This is the first Bulgarian world record!

Unfortunately, at this stage of their development, Bulgarian weightlifters did not have a centralized body to consolidate their activities and identify them for future generations. Significantly better conditions and opportunities for the development of weightlifting appeared in the late 50s of last century. The center for this is the Higher School of Physical Education / VUF /, where a group of young students under the leadership of Assoc. Prof. Zhivko Filipov begin to learn weightlifting under existing and already established international rules. They lay the foundations of the modern look of weightlifting and help its spread in various centers of the country.

On December 22, 1947, in the hall of the Jewish House in Sofia, after a wrestling competition, the first competition was held - a demonstration of weightlifting. It is attended by students and members of some metropolitan clubs - Hr. Nedelchev, F. Panayotov, N. Chamov, I. Yotov, A. Akrabov, P. Raichev and others.

Immediately after that, under the leadership of Zhivko Filipov, regulations were translated, tools were sought and training conditions were created. Together with Angel Akrabov they wrote the first textbook for weightlifting.

In 1948, after the end of the Republican Wrestling Championship, the First Republican Individual Weightlifting Championship was held. This was necessitated by the fact that the administrative weightlifting section was attached to the previously established Republican Wrestling Section of the NFS.

Since 1949, the Republican Weightlifting Championships have been held independently, as the Republican Weightlifting Section of the NCFS Weightlifting Department has already been established. In 1963 it was transformed into the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation (BWF).

From 1950 to 1960, the first weightlifting centers appeared in the country. The founders, athletes and coaches are: Lyuben Raichev, Pavel Raichev and Ivan Veselinov in Asenovgrad, Ivan and Mihail Abadjievi in ​​Novi Pazar and Shumen, Ivan Dilov in Pleven, Iliya Nikolov in Vidin and Vladimir Savov in Lom.

Hristo Nedelchev, Pavel Raichev, Angel Akrabov, Pavel Dobrev, Dimitar Gyurkov, Vasil Konstantinov, Stoyan Petkov, Konstantin Dimitrov and others started working in Sofia clubs, universities and sports organizations, and Nikola Fichev, Nikolay as actors, organizers and judges. Kostov, Stefan Ivanov, Filip Genov and others.

The impetus for the development of barbells in Bulgaria is provided by the staff of the Technical School of Physical Education and Sports in Plovdiv. It was opened in 1949, but weightlifting specialists have been trained since 1951. They graduated, and most of them continued their education in Sofia, a whole constellation of pedagogues. Among them are Ivan Abadjiev, Pavel Dobrev, Vasil Konstantinov, Georgi Atanasov, Kiril Yankov, Mihail Abadjiev, Lyubomir Gradinarov, Iliya Babachev, Angel Angelov, Simeon Kolev, Ivan Popov, Nikola Mollov and others.

These specialists become the backbone of the emerging structures of the Bulgarian bars.

From the early 50's, began to translate specialized literature on weightlifting, mostly by Soviet authors. This has a positive effect on the theoretical and practical training of emerging professionals. Books by RP Moroz, LM Sokolov, P. Loputin, VI Rodionov, IZ Lyubavin, GK Balashov, and later by AN Vorobyov were published, AS Medvedev, RA Roman and others. Some of them visit Bulgaria, and through lectures or camps with the national teams reveal some aspects of special weightlifting training. This helps to shape our methodology for work in the education of adolescents, and in high sportsmanship.

In the period 1956 - 1957 on the initiative of BFVT scientific and practical research was conducted with children and adolescents under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Mateev. The favorable results of them helped to reach the decision to hold competitions with teenagers under 20 from 1958, and in 1963 with UMV (16-18 years). Since 1965, world records for teenagers have been officially registered. The performances of our young athletes date back to that time, and in just a few years they reached the complete superiority of the world podium.

By 1965, basically, the whole structure of weightlifting in Bulgaria was built. The centers are separate. Material base for them is provided, equipped with the most necessary training equipment. There are well-trained sports and pedagogical staff, both through the VIF and through the coaching school. A unit has been set up at CSKA's Chavdar High School for the most talented young weightlifters. Personal and Team Championships are held regularly for all age groups. After them begin the successful participation of our athletes in international championships.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL SUCCESSES

OF BULGARIAN WEIGHT LINKERS - 1949 - 1968

In the first years of performance, our weightlifters participated in international meetings and championships mainly with countries and organizations with which we had contacts at that time. On them they gain experience, get used to the specifics of the competitive environment, build themselves as characters and athletes.

In 1949 came the first international success. At the World Youth Festival in Budapest, Vasil Konstantinov took 3rd place in the category up to 67.5 kg. In the next editions of this forum, our success continues. In 1951 in Berlin, the same athlete was ranked second, and Pavel Raichev remained third. In 1953 in Bucharest, Ivan Veselinov performed excellently, finishing second, and Iliya Nikolov finishing third. No less pleasing is the ranking of our contestants at the 1954 World Student Games in Budapest. There Iliya Nikolov and Ivan Veselinov ranked second, and Ivan Abadjiev and Dimitar Dobrev third in their categories. We are third in the team standings.

Bilateral and trilateral international meetings with Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, the USSR, Hungary, Austria and others played a big role in the growth of our weightlifters. They were conducted in the period between 1951 and 1971, when the appearance of our rods changed significantly and these forms of contacts lost their significance. Nevertheless, for this stage of their development, the home bars were a means of acquiring a routine by our athletes, in view of their future appearances in the fight for medals from major championships.

On October 7, 1954, under № 61 BFVT, she was accepted for the second time as a member of MFVT, which opened the way for her to participate in all international forums of this sport.

In 1955, Bulgaria participated for the first time in the European and World Championships in Munich (they are held simultaneously) with five competitors. There we won the first medal of the European Championship. It was conquered by Ivan Veselinov. We are also recording the first ranking of a Bulgarian in the top six in the world. This is again Ivan Veselinov, who takes the 5th place.

In 1956 we participated for the first time in the Olympic Games with two athletes - Ivan Abadjiev and Ivan Veselinov. There we won the first 2 points of the Olympic Games - V place of Ivan Veselinov.

1957, brings new success to the Bulgarian bars - Ivan Abadjiev won the first medal for Bulgaria at the World Championships. He ranks second in the category up to 67.5 kg. at the tournament, which is being held in Tehran. For ten years after that, we maintain IV - VI place in Europe and VII - VIII in the world in the team rankings.

During our time, from our first participation in the International Championships to the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, the national team included many talented weightlifters who performed with varying degrees of success. These are: Vladimir Savov, Vasil Petkov, Zdravko Koev, Kiril Yankov, Petar Tachev, Ivan Lechev and a little later Stancho Penchev, Veliko Konarov, Konstantin Tilev, Lachezar Tsvetanov and others. Ivan Veselinov stands out with the greatest contribution to the national team in this first stage of the development of the Bulgarian bars. He won two bronze medals from world, four silver and four bronze medals from European championships. He has a long list of medals won at world festivals, international matches, Danube Cup tournaments and World Student Games.

He is the undisputed leader in ranking in the Republican Championships: 16 participations - 16 first places. For the entire history of the domestic bars, he remains the unattainable leader in the number of participations in European Championships - 10, in World Championships - 10 and in the Olympic Games - 3.

Analyzing quite impartially the Bulgarian participation in international championships for the period from 1949 to 1968, we come to the conclusion that the national teams at that time were formed by athletes who mainly relied on their talent, expressed mainly by psycho-physical , functional and natural resources.

There is still a lack of a national system for training class weightlifters that takes into account the specifics of our conditions and applies an effective training methodology.

The balance of the processes of maximum workload and adequate recovery for different stages of the multi-year preparation has not been sufficiently clarified. These circumstances have prevented us from having a better performance at most International Championships in this period of time.

After the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, Ivan Abadjiev was appointed head coach of the national team. Since then, a series of remarkable successes of the Bulgarian weightlifters has begun.