It can be said for sure that the Bulgarian weightlifting team will not arrive in April in Tbilisi for the upcoming European Championship. The reason is doping-scandal in which the whole team is involved.

“Nobody uses Stanozolol any more, I am shocked. The only version of the reasons why these anabolics were found in my athlete’s organism is food augmentations, which my weightlifters were using after training for restorative procedures. Those companies which produced them, gave us guarantee that there would be nothing containing doping” – said head coach of Bulgarian team Ivan Ivanov. As for the companies, they denied existence of any connection with the incident.

In early March, the Bulgarian weightlifting team was gathering in the capital city of Georgia for the European Championship, when the doping-tests were taken from all sportsmen and soon the result became clear. The traces of Stanozolol steroid were found in 11 athlete’s blood which belongs to the doping category.

Recall that this is not the first time when the Bulgarian weightlifting team wraps up in doping-misunderstanding. Two months before the Beijing Olympic Games 2008, the Bulgarian team got in a similar situation.

Bulgarian weightlifters will face 4 and their head coach 2-year disqualification.

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