Valentin Hristov ( bg, Валентин Христов, az, Valentin Xristov, born 30 March 1994) is a Bulgarian

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Azerbaijani weightlifter. He was initially awarded and subsequently stripped of a bronze medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, which would have been Azerbaijan's first-ever Olympic medal in this discipline. Hristov's personal trainer is Zlatan Vanev. He has been competing for Azerbaijan since 2011.

Doping

As a result of a positive drug test for

Dehydromethyltestosterone Metandienone, also known as methandienone or methandrostenolone and sold under the brand name Dianabol (D-Bol) among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is still quite often used because of its affordability and eff ...

( turinabol), he was disqualified from the 2013 European Championships and had received a two-year ban starting from the 9th of April 2013 till the 9th of April 2015. Four other athletes from the Azerbaijani team also tested positive and as a result the federation has been forced to pay a fine of $500,000. At the

2015 World Weightlifting Championships The 2015 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Houston, United States. The event took place from November 19 to 28, 2015. This event was, together with the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships, the first stage of the Qualification Pro ...

he was caught using Nandrolone, he was the original bronze medalist but has since had his results disqualified. He is banned from the 14th of December 2015 to the 14th of December 2023, this being a longer suspension due to it being his second offense. He was among 6 other athletes from the Azerbaijani team that tested positive. On 22 December 2018, it was announced that as a consequence of the International Olympic Committee’s re-analysis program in connection with the 2012 London Olympic Games Hristov had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. In March 2019 he was disqualified from the 2012 Summer Olympics after the re-analysis of his samples, and was stripped of the bronze medal. Hristov tested positive for oralturinabol.IOC DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION DECISION REGARDING VALENTIN HRISTOV
International Olympic Committee, 27 March 2019.

References

External links

Profile at sports-reference.com
1994 births Living people World Weightlifting Championships medalists Bulgarian male weightlifters Azerbaijani male weightlifters Azerbaijani sportspeople in doping cases Olympic weightlifters of Azerbaijan Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Bulgarian emigrants to Azerbaijan Naturalized citizens of Azerbaijan Azerbaijani people of Bulgarian descent Doping cases in weightlifting Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals European Weightlifting Championships medalists People from Shumen {{Azerbaijan-weightlifting-bio-stub