Ivan Nikolov Abadjiev ( Bulgarian: Иван Николов Абаджиев; 12 February 1932 – 24 March 2017) was a Bulgarian

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

and coach. As an active competitor, he won Bulgaria's first weightlifting medal in 1957. From 1968 to 1989 and again from 1997 to 2000 he was the head coach of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation. He also spent a stint as the head Coach of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation during the late 1990s. During his career, Abadjiev produced 12 Olympic champions, 57 world champions and 64 European champions. He was called "The Pope of Weightlifting" for his great career as a coach of the Bulgarian national weightlifting team. Six times he was elected Coach of the Year of Bulgaria - 1985, 1986, 1989, 1997, 1998, 1999, and in 2001 was elected Coach of the 20th Century of the country. Olympic champions under the leadership of Abadjiev are: for Bulgaria - Norair Nurikyan, Yordan Bikov, Andon Nikolov (Munich 1972), Yordan Mitkov, Norair Nurikyan (Montreal 1976), Yanko Rusev, Asen Zlatev (Moscow 1980), Sevdalin Marinov, Borislav Gidikov (Seoul 1988), Galabin Boevski (Sydney 2000); for Turkey - Halil Mutlu, Naim Suleymanoglu (Atlanta 1996). He was familiar with the works of Soviet Professor

Felix Meerson Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

.The Preparation of International Class Weightlifters", Proceedings of the IWF Coaching - Medical Seminar, Varna, 1983:57 - 63. http://www.motion-online.dk/fora/index.php?/topic/38117-the-preparation-of-international-class-weightlifters/ Abajiev developed his own system that dominated the sport at the time.

References

1932 births 2017 deaths Bulgarian male weightlifters People from Novi Pazar, Bulgaria Olympic weightlifters of Bulgaria Weightlifting coaches Weightlifters at the 1956 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1960 Summer Olympics World Weightlifting Championships medalists 20th-century Bulgarian people 21st-century Bulgarian people {{Bulgaria-weightlifting-bio-stub