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GOHEAVY.COM Olympic Weightlifting Forum
Re: Also 20 "pops" in last 7 years *LINK*
Posted By: Alex Krychev (99.187.224.92)
In Response To: Re: Also 20 "pops" in last 7 years (Colin Rigney)
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2010, @ 1:27 a.m.
Colin,
I have to strongly disagree with most of your statements. Being born in Bulgaria and living in US for a long time, trained in Bulgaria as Olifter and being one of the coaches of the Bulgarian National team in the past, I can tell you that the Bulgarian athletes, and other Eastern European athletes, DO NOT live much tougher life. They are very well taking care of. Those athletes lift not because of fear, as you point out they maybe working in a rice field or coal mine. No, they lift because of INCENTIVE. All those athletes, winning medals at Worlds and Olympics, are ordinary people becoming extraordinary by going through extremes. If they put their efforts in other field, and not necessary to such extreme, they would be successful on that field as well. Many of them, after having finished their sports career, graduate universities, become educators or successful business people. I can give you many examples - Pisarenko, Ian Talts, Stefan Botev, Nedelcho Kolev, Andon Nikolov, Andon Kodjabashev, Asen Zlatev, Marchokov, the list goes on and on and on....
The main reason the Eastern European athletes are winning medals is because of their training methodology. And yes, the Bulgarian system is not magic. Magic exist only in the fairy tales. That system now is well known all over the World. However, it is applicable only under certain conditions - with the right incentives. In all those countries, that you are mentioning, the sport of Olifting is a professional sport. Their governments have provided conditions for the implementation of the Bulgarian system or a version of it. Lifters are paid three to four times of the average salaries in their countries. In addition, they receive huge lump sums after winning a medal. In Bulgaria, during Abadjiev time, there were six - seven lifters in each class, training at the Bulgarian Nat'l training center, fighting on every practice for opportunity to compete at Worlds or Olympics. However, the one that did not make it were still rewarded monetary. They were considered as providing the environment for developing the champions. Their personal coaches were rewarded monetary as well. Also, in Bulgaria, an athlete that wins Olympic medal, for any sport, receives a pension for life, equal three and a half time the average salary. The incentives in Russia are similar. In Kazakhstan, the government bumped the reward for Olympic gold to $1 million. And that's why, those athletes go through extremes. Imagine what would happen if Dallas Cowboys plays against an amateur football team. The amateurs will need a lot of ambulances waiting for them. In the US, Olifting is still amateur sport. My admirations to all US lifters, who are doing it purely for the love of the sport.
Alex Krychev
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