Stefan Botew

Stefan Botew
Personal information
Surname:	Stefan Botew Christow
Nationality:	Australia
Date of birth:	February 14, 1968
Place of birth:	Charmanli
Size:	180 cm
Medal table

Stefan Botew Christow ( Bulgarian Стефан Ботев ; born February 14, 1968 in Charmanli , Bulgaria ) is a former Bulgarian-Australian weightlifter .

Athletic career

Botew took second place behind Yuri Sakharevich from the Soviet Union at the European Championships in Reims in 1987 in the class up to 110 kg with 420 kg .

At the European Championships a year later, he placed again with 437.5 kg behind Sakharevich with 450 kg in second place. Also in 1988 in Varna as a junior he set a world record in pushing with 250 kg in the class up to 110 kg.

In 1989 he was able to win the European Championships and the World Championships in Athens with 427.5 kg after the favorites Sakharevich and Weller both failed to make a valid attempt in pushing.

In 1990 at the European Championships in Aalborg Botew was able to relegate his competitor Sakharevich to second place for the first time and won with 445.0 kg and thus a gap of 2.5 kg. Above all, his strong pushing helped Botew again and again to top placings. At the World Cup in the same year, Botew confirmed his role as a favorite and won due to the weak competition with 440 kg, 50 kg ahead of the runner-up. It failed in the last shock attempt because of the world record load of 252.5 kg.

After he had not competed in major competitions in 1991, Botew was able to bring in only 417.5 kg in a duel at the 1992 Olympic Games and thus won bronze, behind Weller and Akojew .

With the same load, Botew took second place behind Tymur Tajmasow in the new class up to 108 kg at the 1993 World Championships in Melbourne under the new flag . Botew had already emigrated to Australia in 1990 and started in 1993 for his adopted home. At the 1994 World Cup in Istanbul, Botew first competed in the super heavyweight division (over 108 kg at the time).

With a body weight of around 120 kg, Botew was one of the lighter super heavyweights and, with 435 kg, took third place behind Aljaksandr Kurlowitsch and Andrei Tschemerkin . In 1995 in Guangzhou , too, Botew had to be content with third place behind Weller and Tschemerkin.

The end of his career was the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , at which he was able to increase his duel performance to 450 kg, which was only enough for third place behind Tschemerkin and Weller.

Others

• Botev was trained by Ivan Abajiev .
• Botew has been a member of the Hall of Fame of the International Weightlifting Federation since 2007 .
• After his athletic career, Botew markets weightlifting shoes and other training equipment.

Personal best

• Tear: 200.0 kg in 1990 in Budapest in the class up to 110 kg.
• Bump: 250.0 kg in 1988 in Varna in the class up to 110 kg.
• Duel: 445.0 kg (195.0 + 250.0 kg) in 1990 in Aalborg in the class up to 110 kg.
• Duel: 450.0 kg (200.0 + 250.0 kg) in Barcelona in 1996 in the 108 kg class.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Stefan Botew in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original ) (accessed on November 14, 2009).
2. ^ Weightlifting Hall of Fame List of Members
3. ^ Gwen Weightlifting
4. ^ Stefan Botev Weightlifting Shoes

Web links

• Portrait on chidlovski.net
• Portrait on weightliftingexchange.com
• Stefan Botew at the Institute for Applied Training Science