Milen Dobrev ( bg, Милен Добрев, February 22, 1980 — March 21, 2015) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

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 lift ...

. He became Olympic champion in 2004 in the middle heavyweight class. That same year, he won the European Championship in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. Dobrev died of a heart attack in his home in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

in 2015. He is the first Bulgarian to win an Olympic title in weightlifting as a member of a team from Plovdiv (Maritsa-Olimp). After winning the 2001 Brisbane Goodwill Games in Australia, he established himself as the elite of weightlifters. His world title was from Vancouver, Canada, in 2003. He also became European champion in 2003 in Loutraki, Greece, and in 2004 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Dobrev started training weightlifting in 1991 under the coach Georgi Yotovski, when he was in sixth grade at the Vasil Levski Sports School and competed for the team of Maritsa. During his military service (1999 – 2000), he was part of the team of CSKA. After 2001 Dobrev transferred to the team of Maritsa-Olimp and started training under Krastyo Milev. He became part of the extended men’s national team on 11.02.2001 and made his debut at the European Men’s Championship in Trencin, Slovakia. In 2001 he also made a debut at the 2001 World Championship in Antalya, Turkey, winning his first bronze medal in the 85 kg category. In 2002 he won silver medal at the European Championship in Antalya, Turkey, in the 94 kg category. The same year, Dobrev also became second at the World Championship in Warsaw, Poland. Milen Dobrev has been an honorary citizen of Plovdiv since 2004. On 20.04.2005 at a ceremony in the Greek Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, he was also named honorary citizen of Athens, Greece.Profile: "Milen Dobrev"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on December 31, 2007)
– (Retrieved on December 31, 2007)

Major Results

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* 1980 births Bulgarian male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria 2015 deaths Olympic medalists in weightlifting Sportspeople from Plovdiv Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Goodwill Games medalists in weightlifting European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games 20th-century Bulgarian people 21st-century Bulgarian people {{Bulgaria-weightlifting-bio-stub