Bratan Zenow

Bratan Zenow Gavrilow (also written Bratan Tsenov Gavrilov, Bulgarian Братан Ценов Гаврилов ; born January 7, 1964 in Lukowit near Lovech ) is a former Bulgarian wrestler . He was world champion and European champion in the Greco-Roman style in paper weight.

Career

Bratan Zenow started wrestling as a teenager in 1975. After his first major successes, he became a member of the Slavia-Litex Sofia sports club , in which the Bulgarian wrestling elite in the Greco-Roman style is concentrated. His trainer there was Stefan Stojew. The 1.56 meter tall athlete wrestled in paperweight at the beginning of his career and switched to flyweight in 1989. As the first international competition, he played the Junior World Championship in 1981, in which he was behind Mark Fuller , USA a. Magyatdin Allachwerdijew from the USSR took 3rd place. At the European Junior Championships 1982 in Leipzig , he came in paper weight behind Markus Scherer from the Federal Republic of Germany and before Magyatdin Allachwerdijew on the 2nd place. In 1982, at the age of 18, paper weight was also used at the Senior World Championships in Katowice . There he took third place behind Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili from the USSR and Salih Bora from Turkey and won a medal. In those years he was often listed as Bratan Gawrilow in the winners' lists, which led to confusion.

This was the start of a great wrestling career which, with two interruptions, would last until 1996. As early as 1983 he caused a sensation in international wrestling events, because he became both world and European champion in the senior paper weight category that year. He was European champion in Budapest ahead of Wassili Anikin from the USSR and Csaba Vadász from Hungary and world champion in Kiev ahead of Markus Scherer from the Federal Republic of Germany and Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili . In the final of this championship, in which the two "youngsters" Bratan Zenow and Markus Scherer stood, he defeated them 6: 3 techn. Points.

In 1984 Bratan Zenow could not continue this series of successes because he was injured at the European Championships and he could not take part in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles that year because Bulgaria , loyal to the Soviet Union , boycotted these games for political reasons.

At the European Championships in 1985, however, he celebrated his next title win. He was European champion in paper weight in Leipzig before Markus Scherer and Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili . In the final, he was the superior winner over Markus Scherer. At the 1985 World Cup in Kolbotn , a suburb of Oslo, Bratan Zenow was surprisingly defeated in the final by Magyatdin Allachwerdijew from the USSR and therefore only came in second.

Also in the years 1986 to 1990 Bratan Zenow failed to win a title. In these five years he won seven medals at the international championships. In 1986 he was both Vice European Champion and Vice World Champion . In each case in the finals he lost against Magyatdin Allachwerdijew and Iwan Samtajew , both from the USSR , against whom he was 1: 3 techn. Lost points quite tight. At the 1987 European Championships in Tampere , Bratan Zenow was defeated in the final by Vincenzo Maenza from Italy . At the 1987 World Cup in Clermont-Ferrand , however, he only reached 5th place.

At the European Championships in Kolbotn in 1988 , he took 3rd place and also at the Olympic Games in Seoul , he achieved this place. He was beaten at both events in the so-called pool finals. In Kolbotn by Sergei Suworow from the USSR and in Seoul by Vincenzo Maenza , who just 4: 3 techn. Points won.

In 1989 Bratan Zenow, switched to flyweight, only started at the World Championships in Martigny / Switzerland and missed the medal ranks there with a 5th place. At the 1990 World Championships in Rome- Ostia he was back on the winners' podium, because he took 3rd place there behind Alexander Ignatenko from the USSR and An Han-bong from South Korea .

At the European Championship in 1991 in Aschaffenburg , he then achieved his fourth title win. He was the European flyweight champion ahead of Dariusz Piaskowski from Poland and Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan from the USSR . In the pool final he defeated Željko Popović from Yugoslavia , after he had previously worked in his pool a. a. also had defeated Rosario Schmitt from Germany . In the final, the Pole Dariusz Piaskowski, who had eliminated Alfred Mkrtchyan, had no chance against him. Bratan Zenow then played no role at the 1991 World Cup in Varna . He only came 3rd in his pool and also lost the fight for 5th place against Oleg Kucherenko from the USSR. A disappointing result for him in front of his home crowd.

At the European Championships in 1992 he came back into the final, in which he was clearly defeated on points against Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan , who started for the CIS in 1992 and later went to Germany. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​Bratan Zenow lost in his pool to the 1988 Olympic champion Jon Rønningen from Norway and to the black American Shawn Sheldon and was therefore only able to fight for 5th place, which he won with a victory over Valentin Rebegea from Romania secured.

After these Olympic Games, Bratan Zenow ended his international wrestling career. He completed a sports degree and became a wrestler trainer in his club. In the 1996 Olympic year, however, he dared a comeback, which brought him back to the top of the Bulgarian paperweight wrestler, in which he trained with great renunciation. But he did not achieve any successes at the international championships. At the European Championships in Budapest he finished only 9th place and at the Olympic Games in Atlanta he came in 10th place.

Bratan Zenow has been the head coach of the Greco-Roman style wrestlers in the Bulgarian Wrestling Association for several years.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1981	3.	Junior World Championships in Vancouver	paper	behind Mark Fuller , USA a. Magyatdin Allachwerdijew , USSR, before Bernd Scherer , FRG a. Lars Rønningen , Norway
1982	2.	Junior European Championship in Leipzig	paper	behind Markus Scherer , FRG, in front of Magyatdin Allachwerdijew
1982	3.	World Cup in Katowice	paper	behind Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili , USSR a . Salih Bora , Turkey , ahead of Leszek Majkowski , Poland and Csaba Vadász , Hungary
1983	1.	Klippan tournament	paper	before Saksylik Uschkempirow , USSR, Kent Andersson , Sweden a . Freddy Scherer , FRG
1983	1.	World Cup in Budapest	paper	before Wassili Anikin , USSR, Csaba Vadász, Markus Scherer a. Vincenzo Maenza , Italy
1983	1.	World Cup in Kiev	paper	before Markus Scherer, Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili, Fumikazu Sasaki , Japan a . Csaba Vadász
1985	1.	EM in Leipzig	paper	before Markus Scherer, Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili, Csaba Vadász u. Krysztof Mudrecki, Poland
1985	2.	World Cup in Kolbotn	paper	behind Magyatdin Allachwerdijew, USSR, in front of Csaba Vadász, Reynaldo J. Verona, Cuba a . TJ Jones, USA
1986	2.	EM in Athens	paper	behind Iwan Samtajew , USSR, in front of Vincenzo Maenza, Lars Rønningen and Fuat Yildiz , Turkey
1986	2.	World Cup in Budapest	paper	behind Magyatdin Allachwerdijew, in front of Reynaldo Jimenez, Cuba, Lars Rønningen u. Andrzej Głąb , Poland
1987	2.	EM in Tampere	paper	behind Vincenzo Maenza, in front of Sergei Suworow , USSR, Markus Scherer and Andrzej Głąb
1987	5.	World Cup in Clermont-Ferrand	paper	behind Magyatdin Allachwerdijew, Vincenzo Maenza, Lars Rønningen and Andrzej Głąb
1987	2.	FILA Grand Prix Gala in Budapest	paper	behind Vincenzo Maenza, in front of Andrzej Głąb, Markus Scherer, Reynaldo Jimenez and Magyatdin Allachwerdijew
1988	3.	EM in Kolbotn	paper	behind Lars Rønningen u. Sergei Suworow, in front of Andrzej Głąb, Fuat Yildiz u. Freddy Scherer
1988	bronze	OS in Seoul	paper	behind Vincenzo Maenza u. Andrzej Głąb, in front of Magyatdin Allachwerdijew, Al-Faraj, Syria a. Markus Scherer
1989	5.	World Cup in Martigny	To fly	behind Alexander Ignatenko , USSR, Remzi Öztürk , Turkey, An Han-bong , South Korea a. Csaba Vadász
1990	3.	World Cup in Rome- Ostia	To fly	behind Alexander Ignatenko u. At Han-bong, before Marian Sandu , Romania a . Shobei Nakamuri, Japan
1991	1.	EM in Aschaffenburg	To fly	before Dariusz Piaskowski , Poland, Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan , USSR, Željko Popović , Yugoslavia a . Rosario Schmitt , Germany
1991	6th	World Cup in Varna	To fly	behind Raúl Martínez Alemán , Cuba, Shawn Sheldon , USA , Jon Rønningen , Norway, Valentin Rebegea , Norway u. Oleg Kutscherenko , USSR
1992	2.	EM in Copenhagen	To fly	behind Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan, GUS , in front of Remzi Öztürk , Senad Rizvanović , Yugoslavia a. Sandor Csergö, Sweden
1992	5.	OS in Barcelona	To fly	behind Jon Rønningen, Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan, Cape Ming-hyung , South Korea a. Shawn Sheldon
1996	4th	Italian Grand Prix in Faenza	paper	behind Wilber Sánchez , Cuba, Oleg Kutscherenko, Germany a. Francesco Costantino , Italy
1996	9.	EM in Budapest	paper	Winner: Safar Gulijew , Russia ahead of Dians Agadjanias , Greece a . Francesco Costantino
1996	10.	OS in Atlanta	paper	Winner: Sim Gwon-ho , South Korea ahead of Aljaksandr Paulau , Belarus a . Safar Guliev

Note: all competitions in the Greco-Roman style, OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, paper weight, then up to 48 kg, flyweight, then up to 52 kg body weight

swell

• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Trade journal Der Ringer ,
• Website "bul-wrestling.org"

Web links

• Profile of Bratan Zenow at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Bratan Zenow in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )