Karlos Nasar was declared the Best Athlete of Bulgaria for 2024 in the 67 th edition of the traditional poll of sports journalists in the country. The Olympic, world and European weightlifting champion collected an exceptional result of 1365 points out of a possible 1370, and the award was presented to him by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev. A total of 137 sports journalists participated in this year challenge.
“People who know me know that it is easier for me to set world records than to speak in front of so many people. I want to say that this award is for all athletes. Many thanks to my coach Pavel Hristov, with who we experienced the greatest tragedies and joys”, Nasar said from the stage, thanking his entire team and everyone who helped him.
Nasar also won the prize for fan favourite in the fans vote. During the award ceremony, President Radev praised Nasar’s remarkable achievements, stating: “Karlos achieved the impossible. He won every major title in just one year. I thank him for the example he sets.”
Nasar became the tenth different representative of weightlifting with the most prestigious individual award in Bulgaria. Before him, the laureates of the award were Yordan Bikov (1972), Nedeltcho Kolev (1973), Valentin Hristov (1975), Yanko Rusev (1981), Blagoy Blagoev (1982), Assen Zlatev (1986), Stefan Botev (1990), Yoto Yotov (1997) and Galabin Boevski (1999). The last time weightlifters had their competitors in the “top three” was a decade ago – in 2014, when Ivan Markov was ranked second behind tennis player Grigor Dimitrov.
For 2024 there was another weightlifter in the top 10 Bozhidar Andreev. The bronze medalist from the Paris Olympic Games and European champion from Sofia 2024 collected 555 points and finished on the 6 th place, with his award presented to Stefan Botev, President of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation and Best Athlete of Bulgaria in 1990 by Nikolay Bukhalov, Bulgaria’s most successful ever sprint canoeist and the only athlete from Bulgaria who won two gold medals at the same edition of the Olympic Games, in Barcelona 1992.
The vote and the ceremony were organized by the Bulgarian Association of Sports Journalists (BASJ) and, above all, by the chairman of the organization, Nayden Todorov, in Sofia, on the 24th of February, 2025.
The EWF addresses special congratulations to Karlos Nasar, Bozhidar Andreev and the entire Bulgarian Weightlifting movement for these very important achievements.