The Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation (BFVT) has a new president in the person of the Olympic champion from the games in Moscow in 1980, Asen Zlatev.
On Monday, he received the support of 20 out of a total of 33 club representatives during an extraordinary general assembly of the federation and will thus take over the position of the current boss Stefan Botev.
At the beginning of the meeting, Botev emphasized his one-year rule and did not fail to note that he got the federation out of a difficult financial situation, thanks to the support of Delyan Peevski, who was sanctioned under “Magnitsky”.
Botev also presented data on the financial condition of the federation, from which it was understood that the liabilities have fallen to BGN 760,000 from the initial BGN 1.1 million, which began to be repaid with the money promised by Peevski.
The federation was in critical financial condition at the end of 2024, even filing for bankruptcy in October 2024. A few weeks later, Botev stood at the head of the BFVT. Already in January 2025, he was photographed with the leader of “DPS-New Beginning” in his office, and then it became clear that Peevski was committed to solving the financial problems of the federation. At that time, there was a bankruptcy case against the BFVT, its liabilities were about BGN 1 million, and the sports ministry had stopped its funding.
Peevski provided initial financial support of BGN 100,000, although it was found out how this happened, since due to the sanctions under Magnitsky, it should not operate with the banks’ international payment systems.
On Monday, Botev announced that due to a case involving unpaid insurance of the weightlifting nationals, the federation’s liabilities will reach BGN 822,000.
After Botev’s report, the delegates proceeded to elect a new chairman, with Zlatev and Botev being the only candidates.
And Zlatev would use money from Peevski
“I am very well aware of what I am getting myself into, that is why I did not give my consent for my candidacy for a month. But now that it is a fact, I am used to difficulties. It has never been easy here,” Zlatev said shortly after his election, quoted by BTA.
According to him, his first tasks will be ensuring the preparation of the national teams and clubs and dealing with financial difficulties. According to him, the financial condition of the federation “is not flourishing” and is not much better than a year ago.
“Now we have to see what the needs are and what needs to be done in order to understand our activities. There are people who can help. I think that Mr. Delyan Peevski is not helping an individual, but is ready to help the sport of weightlifting in Bulgaria,” said Zlatev.
He publicly thanked Peevski for his support, but indicated that it was his decision whether to continue his support.
“Still, he saved the Bulgarian barbell and I thank him from the bottom of my heart. I wish to find other such saviors of our sport, so that next year we can finish all the arrears and start looking after our work, because we have a lot of things to do, and the Olympics are knocking on the door”, Zlatev said.
According to him, talks have been held with various businessmen to finance the federation.
Zlatev fears that there may be an appeal against the selection, but expressed hope that something like that will not happen.
Carlos Nassar is considering taking another side in the complaints against Zlatev
Olympic and world parallel bars champion Carlos Nassar said he would consider competing for another country if there was an appeal against Zlatev’s selection.
“I’m always open to the possibility that there could be appeals. I don’t think everything is perfect, but it would be nice not to have that because otherwise I’ll be thinking about what to do with my career. It’s better not to have those appeals,” Nassar said.
According to him, it was Zlatev who kept him in Bulgaria and gave him the sense not to compete for another country.
“He has an idea of how our federation should work, how to provide me with the necessary peace of mind and the necessary conditions to win more medals,” said Nassar, quoted by BTA.
Nassar publicly announced his support for Zlatev’s nomination two weeks ago when he officially signed his new contract with the federation. In this way, the many speculations surrounding the future of the Olympic champion ended.
“I constantly receive offers to compete for other countries, but at the moment I have no such thoughts. But if someone appeals, such thoughts can enter my head. We saw that with this leadership there was no communication between the president and the governing council. Instead of agreement, there were quarrels. This is not the way to work,” Nassar said on Monday.
According to him, the general assembly was extremely calm. The Olympic champion came an hour before the meeting to talk to the delegates.
“I wanted to answer for myself if this federation has a future, and I think that with the election of Asen Zlatev and the new leadership there is one. We just have to support them and I will do everything in my power. I believe that I can be useful to the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation. I give my full support to Asen Zlatev. This was not the case with the previous leadership,” announced Nassar.
According to him, the federation should not rely on funding from only one person, but this is a decision between Zlatev and Delyan Peevski.
“I think that we are entering into political circles here, and this should not happen. I do not think that it will be a big fall if Delyan Peevski does not continue to finance the federation. He has been helping for a year now, and the obligations have not passed yet, they are not small. We need something more to deal with this,” said Nassar.
When signing his contract, the world champion announced that Peevski should not interfere in sports.
Nassar was heavily criticized because he also posed for a photo with the DPS-New Beginning leader. This happened just a day after the world champion announced that he had not received funds for his training from the federation. His statement came after Botev had named Peevski as the main reason for the success of the world and European championships.
Nassar later announced that he was never tied to political forces and personalities, and his action was a gesture and a compromise to the federation.
Botev does not believe in the successes of the new president
The previous head of the federation expressed doubts that the Olympic champion from 1980 could cope with its leadership. He stated that he was somewhat surprised by the clubs’ decision to select Zlatev.
According to Botev, a large-scale smear campaign was launched against him, and in the last year he has done enough for the federation.
“I am surprised on the one hand, but on the other – not so much. I am surprised because what I did has not been done in a federation for many years, and there is no logic in voting for a person who cannot handle this thing. If he could, he should have run for president last year, when he was the biggest problem in the federation and it was on the verge of bankruptcy,” said Botev.
According to him, he cannot appeal the selection of Zlatev, but if the clubs wish, they can do so.
“If there were omissions during the meeting, there will be appeals. Whoever does not see omissions will not appeal and everything continues. In my opinion, everything went normally with some minor exceptions, but everything must be reviewed again,” he said.
Botev added that he does not know whether Peevski will continue to help the federation and that is his decision.
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