Blagoi Blagoev began lifting in 1972 and made a major breakthrough in 1976 when he finished second at the European Championships. At the Montreal Olympics he finished second in the 82½ kg. class but was disqualified when the drug test revealed he had taken anabolic steroids. His first international championship came in 1979 when he won the European championship, but he was forced to compete early in his career against Yuri Vardanyan, who usually had the better of their match-ups. At the 1980 Olympics, Blagoev finished second in the 82½ kg. class behind Vardanyan. In 1981, having moved up to the 90 kg. class, Blagoev won the first of three consecutive World Championships. But the boycott of the 1984 Olympics denied him a final chance at Olympic gold. Blagoev was European middle-heavyweight champion in 1979, and 1981-82. He set 23 world records in the light-heavyweight and middle-heavyweight classes – 15 in the snatch, one in the clean & jerk, and seven in the total.
Bulgaria