The 9 th International Tournament “Milen Dobrev” was successfully held on the 16 th of November, 2024, in Plovdiv. The competition organized in memory of the great Bulgarian weightlifter and gold Olympic medallist at Athens 2004, Milen Dobrev took place in the weightlifting hall in the Bulgarian city, in front of an impressive audience of world champions and Olympians from Bulgaria who have written history in our sport over the decades, including Zlatan Vanev, Sevdalin Marinov, Ivan Ivanov, Neno Terziyski and the newly elected president of the National Federation, Stefan Botev.
44 weightlifters, female and male, from Albania, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, including the Olympic champion Karlos Nassar and other members of the host federation National Team competed in the one-day competition, conducted in three mixed sessions organized by age and gender categories (Youth, Junior, U23 and Senior), using the Sinclair calculation system for the final ranking.
The tournament hosted by “Maritsa” Sport Club was conducted by Dimitar Stoikov, Borislav Nalbantov and Ivan Tsankov.
Milen Dobrev was born on February 28, 1980. in Plovdiv. His childhood was spent in the village of Zitnitsa, Plovdiv region. Trains weightlifting at the Maritsa – Olympus Club under coach Krstyu Milev. His first success was in 1996. at the European Junior Championship in Burgas, where he won a bronze medal in the up to 70 kg category. Since 2001 takes a permanent place in the elite of the world weightlifting with the championships title from the Goodwill Games, in Brisbane. Dobrev was also World Champion in Vancouver (2003) and European Champion (2003 and 2004). He has reached its maximum performance in Athens 2004, where he won a gold medal at the Olympics, in the category up to 94 kg. In total, he has won four gold, two silver and two bronze medals from major championships. After 17 years in the weightlifting, he ended his career following a series of serious injuries on the eve of the Beijing Olympics (2008). The late Milen Dobrev is the penultimate Bulgarian with an Olympic weightlifting title.
Karlos Nassar was declared the best athlete of the competition with 180 Kg, in snatch, 220 Kg, in clean and jerk and 400 Kg, in total and a total of 478,369 Sinclair Points.
