Gergana Kirilova () (born 18 June 1972) is a Bulgarian

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

, competing in the 63 kg category and representing Bulgaria at international competitions. She competed at world championships, most recently at the

2006 World Weightlifting Championships The 2006 World Weightlifting Championships were held at the Handball Pavilion and Weightlifting Pavilion Dr. José Joaquín Puello in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The event took place from September 30 to October 7, 2006. Medal summary M ...

. Kirilova tested positive for a

steroid A steroid is an organic compound with four fused compound, fused rings (designated A, B, C, and D) arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes t ...

in 2008 during an out-of-competition test, along with ten other weightlifters, and therefore Bulgaria's weightlifting federation withdrew its team from the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Apart from Cholakov the athletes who tested positive were Ivailo Filev,

Alan Tsagaev Alan Tsagaev ( Bulgarian spelling of name: Алан Цагаев, born 13 September 1977) is a naturalized Bulgarian weightlifter of Ossetian origin who competed in the Men's 105 kg weight class at the 2000 Summer Olympics and won a silver me ...

, Velichko Cholakov,

Ivan Stoitsov Ivan Stoitsov (Иван Стоицов, born in Plovdiv) is a Bulgarian male weightlifter, competing in the 77 kg category and representing Bulgaria at international competitions. He participated at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 77 kg event. H ...

, Ivan Markov,

Georgi Markov Georgi Ivanov Markov ( ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, until his defection in 196 ...

Demir Demirev Demir Demirev (, born 31 August 1984) is a Bulgarian weightlifter. He is of Roma ethnicity. He participated in the men's -69 kg class at the 2006 World Weightlifting Championships and won the bronze medal, finishing behind Vencelas Dabaya ...

, Milka Maneva, Donka Mincheva and Mehmed Fikretov.

Major results

See also

References

Further reading