Georgi Todorov (weightlifter)

Georgi Todorov

Georgi Todorov ( Bulgarian Георги Тодоров , English transcription Georgi Todorov ; born December 4, 1952 in Belogradez ) is a former Bulgarian weightlifter . He won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games and was world champion in 1974 and 1975 , both in the featherweight division.

Career

The origin of Georgi Todorow, whose birthday is said to have been on December 4, 1951 according to another source, is not known. In any case, he began weightlifting around 1970 and developed into a world-class man within a few years under the Bulgarian national coach Ivan Abadschiew , who has been in office since 1969 . With his small body size of 1.54 meters and the associated favorable leverage, he was predestined for weightlifting in bantam or featherweight.

He first appeared on the international weightlifting stage in 1971 when he won the featherweight featherweight 337.5 kg in front of the Romanian Kovacsi, 330 kg, at the junior Danube Cup tournament in Vienna.

In 1972 he appeared at the European Senior Championships in Constanța . He started there in bantamweight and achieved 355 kg (115-102.5-137.5) in the Olympic three-way battle, with which he finished second behind Rafael Belenkow from the USSR, who scored 360 kg. He also started in bantamweight at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where he achieved 350 kg (110-100-140), which only came in eighth because the lifters performed significantly better than at the European Championships in Constanța.

In 1973 the pressing of the Olympic three-way fight was abolished. Since then, the competitions have only consisted of a duel consisting of snatching and pushing. What initially looked like a disadvantage for Todorow, who showed very strong performance in pushing but relatively poor performance in snatching, changed very quickly, because he very quickly achieved excellent performances in snatching and in 1975 he achieved 128 kg and 130 kg in this discipline even new world records.

In 1973 he still started in the bantamweight division. At the European Championships in Madrid he came with 252.5 kg (115-147.5) in a duel behind his compatriot Atanas Kirow , who came to 255 kg, in second place. The same place he took at the 1973 World Cup in Havana , where he increased to 255 kg (112.5-142.5), but was again narrowly beaten by Atanas Kirov with 257.5 kg.

1974 Georgi Todorow switched to featherweight. This change paid off immediately, because he was in Verona in this weight class with 272.5 kg (120-152.5) European champion before Dito Schanidze from the USSR, who also achieved 272.5 kg, but was a little heavier than him. At the 1974 World Championships in Manila Georgi Todorow increased to the new world record load of 280 kg (125-155) in a duel and thus won ahead of Nikolai Kolesnikow from the USSR, who reached 277.5 kg. At both championships he relegated the 1972 Olympic featherweight champion, his compatriot Norair Nurikjan , to 3rd place.

In 1975 the World and European Championships took place in Moscow . Todorow reached there in feather weight 285 kg (125-160) and thus won unchallenged before Kolesnikow, who in turn came to 277.5 kg. At the European Championship in 1976 in Berlin (East) he was no longer in such good shape. Although he achieved with 277.5 kg (125-162.5) in a duel, still a world class result, but this only reached third place behind Kolesnikow, 282.5 kg and his compatriot Todor Todorow , 280 kg. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, he achieved in a duel 280 kg (122.5–157.5), winning the silver medal behind Kolesnikow, 285 kg (125–160).

In 1977 Georgi Todorow had to train off in the bantamweight division at the World and European Championships in Stuttgart for reasons of team tactics by order of Ivan Abadschiew . Under great torture, he managed this and achieved with 247.5 kg (110-137.5) still such a good performance that he was behind the Japanese Jiro Hosotani , 252.5 kg (107.5-145) in the world championship ), took second place and even took first place in the European Championship standings.

In 1978 Georgi Todorow was absent from the international championships. But he started in 1979 at the 5th National Spartakiade in Sofia and finished there in featherweight with 272.5 kg, the second place behind Manolow, who came to 280 kg. However, he was preferred to Manolow both at the European Championships that year in Varna and at the 1978 World Championships in Saloniki . In Varna he finished in featherweight with 272.5 kg (125-147.5) behind Kolesnikow, who however outclassed him with 292.5 kg (127.5-165), the second place and in Saloniki Georgi Todorow was second behind the Pole Marek Seweryn , 282.5 kg. Kolesnikov had three failed attempts there.

Oddly enough, Georgi Todorov ended his career after these competitions, a year before the Olympic Games in Moscow . Nothing is known about his further life.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1971	1.	Danube Cup tournament (juniors) in Vienna	feather	with 337.5 kg, before Kovacsi, Romania , 330 kg
1971	1.	Intern. Tournament in Sliven	feather	with 337.5 kg, before Pi Jun Tschen, North Korea , 332.5 kg
1972	4th	Danube Cup tournament in Budapest	feather	350 kg (105-107.5-137.5), behind Janos Benedek , Hungary , 372.5 kg, Kurt Pittner , Austria , 372.5 kg a. Karel Prohl , Czechoslovakia , 352.5 kg
1972	2.	EM in Constanța	Bantam	with 355 kg (115-102.5-137.5), behind Rafael Belenkow , USSR , 360 kg, in front of Korcz, Poland , 352.5 kg
1972	8th.	OS in Munich	Bantam	with 350 kg (110-100-140); Winner: Imre Földi , Hungary , 377.5 kg, ahead of Mohammad Nassiri , Iran , 370 kg a. Gennady Khetin , USSR, 367.5 kg
1973	2.	Intern. Tournament in Havana	feather	with 235 kg (105-130), behind Torosjan, USSR, 237.5 kg
1973	4th	Friendship tournament in Tashkent	feather	with 250 kg, behind Golubzow, USSR, 267.5 kg, Yoshiyuki Miyake , Japan , 250 kg u. Kurt Pittner, 250 kg
1973	1.	Danube Cup tournament in Havířov	feather	with 262.5 kg (115-147.5), ahead of Kurt Pittner, 257.5 kg
1973	2.	EM in Madrid	Bantam	with 252.5 kg (110–142.5), behind Atanas Kirow , Bulgaria , 255 kg, in front of Karel Prohl, 250 kg
1973	2.	World Cup in Havana	Bantam	with 255 kg (112.5–142.5), behind Atanas Kirow, 257.5 kg, in front of K. Miki, Japan, 252.5 kg
1974	1.	Danube Cup tournament in Braunau	feather	with 175 kg (120–155), before Janos Benedek, 267.5 kg
1974	1.	EM in Verona	feather	with 272.5 kg (120-152.5), before Dito Schanidze , USSR, 272.5 kg (120-152.5) ​​and Norair Nurikjan , Bulgaria, 265 kg (115–150)
1974	1.	World Cup in Manila	feather	with 280 kg (125–155), before Nikolai Kolesnikow , USSR, 277.5 kg a. Norair Nurikjan , 277.5 kg
1975	1.	WM + EM (1st) in Moscow	feather	with 285 kg (125-160), before Nikolai Kolesnikow, 277.5 kg a. Antoni Pawlak, Poland, 275 kg
1976	3.	EM in Berlin (East)	feather	with 277.5 kg (125–152.5), behind Nikolai Kolesnikow, 282.5 kg a. Todor Todorow, Bulgaria, 280 kg
1976	silver	OS in Montreal	feather	with 280 kg (122.5–157.5), behind Nikolai Kolesnikow, 285 kg, in front of Kazumasa Hirai , Japan, 275 kg
1977	2.	WM + EM (1st) in Stuttgart	Bantam	with 247.5 kg (110-137.5), behind Jiro Hosotani , Japan, 252.5 kg (107.5-145), in front of Chen Manlin (Tschen Man-Lin), China , 245 kg
1979	2.	EM in Varna	feather	with 272.5 kg (125-147.5), behind Nikolai Kolesnikow, 292.5 kg (127.5-165), in front of M. Grigoras, Romania, 270 kg
1979	2.	World Cup in Saloniki	feather	with 275 kg (120–155), behind Marek Seweryn , Poland, 282.5 kg (127.5–155), in front of Setuya Goto , Japan, 270 kg

WM + EM - individual medals

• World Cup gold medals: 1974 / tearing / spring - 1975 / pushing / spring
• World Cup silver medals: 1973 / Tear / Bantam - 1973 / Poke / Bantam - 1974 / Poke / Feather - 1975 / Tear / Feather - 1976 / Punch / Feather - 1977 / Tear / Bantam
• World Cup bronze medals: 1976 / tear / spring
• EM gold medals: 1974 / tearing / spring - 1974 / pushing / spring - 1975 / pushing / spring - 1977 / tearing / bantam
• European Championship silver medals: 1973 / Tear / Bantam - 1973 / Push / Bantam - 1975 / Tear / Spring - 1976 / Tear / Spring - 1977 / Push / Bantam - 1979 / Push / Spring

World records

date	place	discipline	Weight class	power
23.9.74	Manila	Duel	feather	280 kg
17.9.75	Moscow	Duel	feather	285 kg
10/3/75	Varna	Tear	feather	128 kg
5/25/75	Sofia	Tear	feather	130 kg
5/25/76	Sofia	Duel	feather	287.5 kg

swell

• Athletics magazine
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig
• sports-reference.com

Web links

• Georgi Todorow in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Profile of Georgi Todorow in the lift-up project at chidlovski.net (English)