Joto Jotow

Joto Jotow
Personal information
Surname:	Ioto Wasilew Jotow
Nationality:	Bulgaria Croatia
Date of birth:	May 22, 1969
Place of birth:	Pernik
Size:	165 cm
Medal table

Joto Wasilew Jotow (also spelled Yoto Vasilev Yotov , Bulgarian Йото Василев Йотов ; born May 22, 1969 in Pernik ) is a Bulgarian weightlifter who temporarily competed for Croatia .

Career

For almost a decade, Jotow was able to establish himself at the top of the world light and middleweight division. His first international competition was the 1989 World Championships in Athens , where he achieved 337.5 kg (155.0 / 182.5 kg) in the lightweight up to 67.5 kg and thus silver behind Israjel Militosjan with 347.5 kg and ahead of Kim Myong -Nam Il won with 327.5 kg.

In the following years Jotow took part in almost every European and World Cup. In 1990 he won the European Championships in Aalborg with 340.0 kg (155.0 / 185.0 kg) and was runner-up with 352.5 kg (152.5 / 180.0 kg) behind Kim Myong-Nam Il, the 347th , Scored 5 kg. Jotow won the European and World Championships in 1991, lifting 340.0 kg (155.0 / 185.0 kg) and 345.0 kg (155.0 / 190.0 kg) respectively.

In the 1992 Olympic year, Jotow was able to relegate his main competitor Militosian to second place at the European Championships with 337.5 kg (152.5 / 185.0 kg) to 335.0 kg. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona , his performance of 327.5 kg (150.0 / 177.5 kg) was not enough to beat Militosian with 337.5 kg, with which Jotow won silver. Third place was Andreas Behm with 320.0 kg.

Also in 1993 Jotow won both international titles. After changing the weight classes, Jotow continued to compete in the lightweight, which now had a body weight limit of 70 kg. At the European Championships in Sofia and the World Championships in Melbourne , he lifted 342.5 kg (152.5 / 190 kg and 155.0 / 187.5 kg respectively) and thus won well ahead of the competition.

The following year Jotow won his fourth European title in Sokolov with 345.0 kg (152.5 / 192.5 kg), ahead of the Turks Fedail Guler with 342.5 kg and Ergun Batmaz with 332.5 kg. Since the old records were discarded after the change in weight classes, Jotow's performance in pushing and dueling was a new world record. At the World Championships in Istanbul , however, he had to face himself with 345.0 kg (155.0 / 190.0 kg) Guler defeated 350.0 kg and thus won silver in front of his compatriot Angel Guenchew with 340.0 kg.

In 1995 Jotow switched to middleweight up to 76 kg body weight. Here he contested his first competition in this class with the World Championships in Guangzhou and was able to place himself on the podium straight away. At 365.0 kg (162.5 / 202.5 kg) he was only 2.5 kg behind world champion Pablo Lara , who achieved 367.5 kg. The EM 2005 was the only major event in which Jotow did not take part since 1989.

Even at his second Olympic Games, Jotow was denied the gold medal. With 360.0 kg (160.0 / 200.0 kg) he had to admit defeat to Lara with 367.5 kg. Jon Chol-Ho came in third with 357.5 kg.

A year later, Jotow won again the European Championship and World Championship title. At the European Championships in Rijeka , Yotov lifted 355.0 kg (160.0 / 195.0 kg) and with this performance was first ahead of Ingo Steinhöfel and Ruslan Savchenko with 350.0 kg each. At the world championships in Chiang Mai he was able to assert himself with 367.5 kg (165.0 / 202.5 kg) against his compatriot Georgi Gardev with 365.0 kg and won his last world title.

After the 1995 World Cup, Jotow did not play any more international competitions until 2004. At the European Championships in Kiev, however, he went under the Croatian flag in the light heavyweight up to 85 kg, where he took 15th place with 350.0 kg (155.0 / 195.0 kg). In 2006 Jotow then went back to a world championship. In Santo Domingo, the now 37-year-old lifted 340.0 kg (150.0 / 190.0 kg) and reached 17th place.

Jotow was active for AC Mutterstadt in the weightlifting Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga .

Personal best

• Tear: 165.0 kg in the class up to 76 kg at the 1997 World Cup in Chiang Mai
• Bump: 202.5 kg in the 76 kg class at the 1995 World Cup in Guangzhou
• Duel: 367.5 kg (165.0 / 202.5 kg) in the class up to 76 kg at the 1997 World Cup in Chiang Mai

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.berliner-kurier.de/archiv/jotow-gedopt,8259702,8145956.html
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

• Profile of Joto Jotow in the lift-up project at chidlovski.net (English)
• Joto Jotow at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Joto Jotow in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Video of Yotov pushing with 202.5 kg