Lightweight (≤67½ kilograms), Men

Bulgaria’s Angel Genchev seemed to dominate this class, with the best lifts in both the snatch and clean & jerk and his total of 362.5 kg bettered the world record held by his countryman, Mikhail Petrov. However, Genchev’s post-competition doping test revealed traces of Lasix (furosemide), a diuretic used to mask the use of performance enhancing drugs. He was disqualified. Genchev’s teammate, Mitko Grablev, had also tested positive for the same drug in the bantamweight class, after he seemed to have won that class. After Grablev and Genchev’s positive tests, the Bulgarian weightlifting team withdrew all their other lifters from the remainder of the competition in Seoul.

After the disqualification, East German Joachim Kunz moved up to the gold medal. He had won silver in this class at the 1980 Olympics and was the 1981 and 1983 World Champion. The silver medal went to Soviet Israel Militosyan, who won the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Genchev continued to compete but in 1992 was convicted of rape and imprisoned for two years. He was able to obtain an early release, however, so he could represent Bulgaria at the 1994 World Championships, where he won a bronze medal.