Krasimir Simeonov Kochev ( bg, Красимир Симеонов Кочев; born May 4, 1974, in

Petrich Petrich ( bg, Петрич ) is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Sandanski–Petrich Valley at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. According to the 2021 census, the town has 26,778 ...

) is an amateur Bulgarian freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's heavyweight category. Considered one of Bulgaria's top freestyle wrestlers in his decade, Kochev has claimed two career medals (one silver and one bronze) at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(2001 and 2003), picked up a bronze at the 2005 European Championships in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

, and achieved top seventeen finishes in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004). Throughout his sporting career, Kochev trained as a member of the freestyle wrestling team for Slavia Sport Club in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, under his head coach Simeon Shcherev. Kochev made his official debut at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, where he competed in the men's super heavyweight division (130 kg). He lost his opening match to Cuba's Alexis Rodríguez without receiving a single point on the morning session, but pulled off a 1–1 draw to tame Mongolia's

Dolgorsürengiin Sumyaabazar Dolgorsürengiin Sumiyabazar ( mn, Долгорсүрэнгийн Сумъяабазар, ''Dolgorsurengín Sumyaabazar'', ɔːɮɢɔrsureːŋgiːŋ sʊmiaːpat͡sar also referred to as Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar; born 7 January 1974) is a Mongoli ...

at the end of the round-robin. Finishing second in the prelim pool and twelfth overall, Kochev's performance fell short to put him further into the quarterfinals. When his nation Bulgaria hosted the

2001 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2001 World Wrestling Championships. Freestyle competition were held in Sofia, Bulgaria and Greco-Roman competition were held in Patras, Greece. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle ...

, Kochev lowered his weight to less than a hundred kilograms to compete in the 97-kg division. Despite being brought by the massive roar of the home crowd, Kochev suffered a disappointing defeat from Russia's

Giorgi Gogshelidze Giorgi Gogshelidze (born 7 November 1979 in Gori) is a Georgian wrestler, who has won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Oly ...

(who later represented Georgia in two Olympic Games) in the final match 0–3, but luckily picked up a silver medal for the host nation. Two years later, at the

2003 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2003 World Wrestling Championships. The Freestyle Competition was held in New York City, United States, while the Greco-Roman Competition was held in Créteil, France. Medal table Team ranking Medal su ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, United States, Kochev came strong with a bronze medal effort in the 96-kg division, which effectively earned him a ticket to his second Olympics. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Kochev qualified for his second Bulgarian squad, as a 30-year-old, in the men's heavyweight class (96 kg) by placing third and receiving a berth from the World Championships. Unlike his previous Olympics, Kochev made an embarrassing exit with two straight defeats from Kyrgyzstan's

Aleksey Krupnyakov Aleksey Krupnyakov (born May 28, 1978) is a male freestyle wrestler from Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekista ...

(2–3) and Uzbekistan's Magomed Ibragimov (0–3), leaving him on the bottom of the pool and finishing seventeenth overall in the final standings.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kochev, Krasimir 1974 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Bulgaria Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Bulgarian male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics People from Petrich World Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Championships medalists Sportspeople from Blagoevgrad Province