Report on Trip to Bulgaria - Philippe Hedrich (1975)

 International Olympic Lifter October 1975

*Full disclosure: I know they kept spelling Ivan Abadjiev's name wrong throughout the entire article - not sure if it was a French to English thing or what, but for historical integrity I left it as printed.

The Quebec Weightlifting Federation, being a little more fortunate than the rest of the provincial associations, were able to send in December of 1974 a group of four lifters and two coaches to Bulgaria to study the training methods and the lifting program of that country. Following is a translation of the report on their experience as given by Philippe Hedrich, a member of the group, and published in the Quebec Newsletter. PARTICIPANTS Athletes: Yves Carignan, 60kg Pierre Charbonneau, 75kg Gabriel Voisard, 82.5kg Claude Hardy, 110kg Coaches: Jules Sylvain Philippe Hedrich Except for a slight delay in leaving Paris for Sofia, the trip Montreal-Paris was made without difficulty. I will not dwell on these unimportant details anymore than on the return trip, since it is my lot to write this report, on the eve of our departure in our “Pliska” hotel room in Sofia. There was six inches of snow and it was still snowing upon our arrival at the Sofia airport at 8:40 pm on Monday, December 16. We were met by Mr. Abadchiev (Edit: Abadjiev is referred in this spelling throughout the piece), the Bulgarian national coach; Mr. Kanelov, his assistant; and Mr. Alexandar Stefanow, the interpreter place at our disposal by the Bulgarian Weightlifting Fed. The latter is a young international commerce student who speaks very good English, a little French, fairly good German and very good Russian. Having arrived at the “Pliska” Hotel which is considered to be a fairly good hotel in Sofia, Mr. Abadchiev immediately concerned himself about our accommodation and having assured us that our supper would be served shortly, informed us that training would start at 10:30 the next day. We had just set foot in the life of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Elite, at least we believe that this was the way the “Elite” does things. I have presented this report under five headings for ease of reference: 1. Organization of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation 2. Recruitment and Training 3. Competitions 4. Different “Elite” groups and their training 5. Middle and long-range aims

1. Organization

The Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation is subsidized, on the one hand directly by the Government, and on the other hand by the benefits accruing from a government controlled lottery called “TOTO” where bets are placed on the outcome of various sports events. 

In Bulgaria, it is there possible to bet on weightlifting competition results, amongst others, and athletes’ photos such as Kolev, Bikov, Todorov, Nikolov, Nurikjan, etc. are prominently displayed in cafes for publicity purposes. 

The Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation is divided into 28 regional communities (in a fashion similar to that of the Bulgarian Government itself.)  Heading the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation is a committee of 71 persons comprising:

a. Regional delegates

b. Coaches

c. Referees

d. A representative appointed by the Ministry of Finance

e. A representative appointed by the Ministry of Education

f. A representative appointed by the Ministry of Public Health

g. A representative appointed by the Communist Party

h. Several other representatives from different organizations (depending on the sports involved)

This committee selects amongst its members, the Executive Committee which consists of 11 persons and is in office for four years (after each Olympic cycle.)  The Executive Committee form sub-committees as follows – 

a. Athletes’ sub-committee (President in office, Kolev)

b. Coaches’ sub-committee (9-11 persons)

This sub-committee’s main task is to attend to methods (methodology) and training programs.  It may, if needed, be assisted by specialists in different fields, e.g.: medical, educational, psychological, etc.  Once a year this sub-committee meets with the full time paid Bulgarian Coaches (there are approximately 120) during a Convention of two to thee weeks’ duration, as required, to update the knowledge of the country’s coaches.

c. Referees sub-committee (9-11 persons) chosen from the Federation’s 71 member committee

c. Medical sub-committees

c. Sub-committees assigned for looking after children (the mandate of the last two sub-committees (d) and (e) will be revised January 1975)

All of the sub-committees meet at least once a month.

The “patron” of the Federation, who in Bulgaria is the Secretary-General (Technical Director) is Mr. Stoev.  His is employed by the Federation, although elected for a 4 year period.  Mr. Stoev has been in office since 1964 (after Tokyo.) He has requested to be relieved of his functions this year but his Federation requested that he complete his term, which he accepted. Mr. Stoev is also Secretary of the European Weightlifting Federation. 

2. Recruitment

There are in 1974, sixty weightlifting clubs in Bulgaria.  They are in fact, “all sports” clubs with weightlifting sections.  The Federation numbers 120 full time coaches and 170 so-called volunteers, all of whom are physical instructors specialized in weightlifting and who do the real recruitment in primary schools. In order to emphasize how these clubs operate and the method of recruitment, let me cite the case of the typical town of Asenovgrad which has a population of 50,000 and is situated 115 miles from Sofia.

Name of Club: Asenovez

It is a “sportsplex” entirely built and subsidized by the Bulgarian Government.  This club can cater to most sports, and has three weightlifting rooms, a medical clinic, a sauna, tennis courts, a chess game room, a projection hall and a rest lounge.

The weightlifting staff consists of three professional coaches and three volunteer physical instructors. The responsibility of the three professional coaches is to train young (and not so young) athletes but not weightlifting.

The young athletes, recruited by the physical instructors, start weightlifting training at about 11 to 12 years of age.  For one year at the rate of three times a week, they train under the supervision of the instructors but the first year is devoted entirely to theoretical and technical work, without real weights (wooden discs on the bars), films and explanations of basic movements.  After a year or more, they begin proper training under professional coaches but lift in proportion to their potential only at about the age of 14 or 15. 

The medical sub-committee is at the present time in co-operation with the Coaches sub-committee carrying out experiments with typical groups, 9 to 10 years old. 

In Bulgaria there are weightlifting classes in sports schools, but this will be covered under the heading dealing with the “Elite.”

The training of the lifters in the clubs is more or less based on that followed by the National Team and the “Elite.”

3. Competitions

Here, I will only deal with competitions at the national or international level and not with those at the regional or club level. 

Teams – Bulgaria has two championship leagues at the level:

“A”League: 19 teams

“B”League: 15 teams

These two leagues take part in three competitions a year: February, June and September.  There are nine men to a team, with a maximum of two per class.  Depending on the group (league), these competitions may last two or three days.  Points are awarded by classes, as follows:

1st in each class – 12 points

2nd “ – 10 points

3rd “ – 8 points

4th “ – 7 points

5th “ – 6 points

6th “ – 5 points

7th “ – 4 points

8th “ – 3 points

9th " – 2 points

10th " – 1 point

The Champion club for the year is that which has scored the most points durin the three competitions. 

At the end of each year the “A” league teams which have placed 9th and 10th transfer to the “B” League and the “B” league teams which have place 1st and 2nd transfer to the “A" league. 

The Juniors also have two leagues of 25 clubs each, the difference being that one league is formed of lifters 18 years of age or less while the other consists of 19 and 20 year old lifters.

An athlete may compete in a higher age group for all of that year, but he may not revert to a lower age class.  These two leagues take part in two competitions, one in April and one in July.  The first ten clubs in each league take part in the “finals” in October or November. 

The winner of the “finals” is determined by adding the points of the members of each club, of the 18 year old group and of the 19 and 20 year old groups, this to prevent the possibility of a club putting its best lifters in the same age group (19 and 20 years old.) 

The winning Junior Club is awarded the “Crystal” Cup. A club that wins the cut three times in five years retains it and an equivalent cup replaces it.  The clubs which place 1st and 2nd in the “A” league and in the Junior Leagues acquire the right to take part in the team competitions abroad. The clubs located near the border may also compete with those of adjoining countries.  The athletes who are members of an “Elite” group or of the National Bulgarian Team, must rejoin their parent clubs for team competitions. 

Individual Championships

The Bulgarian individual Championship, (also regional or club Championships) is divided into 4 age groups:

A. Senior (open)

B. 23 years of age and below (21 to 23)

C. 19 to 20 years of age

D. 18 years of age and younger

An athlete may not take part in two individual championships during the same year. A Junior may take part in a Senior Championship but in that event, he may not compete in the championship for his age group. The participation and qualifying standards for the different classes are as follows:

1. Weight class

2. Master in Sport, Bulgaria

3. Candidate, Master in Sport

4. National Senior Championship

5. Championship, 23 years of age and under

6. Regional Senior Championship

7. Championship, 19 and 20 years of age

8. Championship, 18 years of age and under

To be an Honours, Master-in-sport in Bulgaria one must have placed as follows:

a. First in European Championships

b. In the first three in the World’s Championships

c. In the first four at the Olympic Games

A Bulgarian athlete who qualified as:

a. Master in Sport receives a 15% salary bonus if he works in the sports field

b. Honours, Master in Sport receives a 25% salary bonus under the same circumstances.

An athlete who has qualified as Honours, Master in Sport, may register in any faculty of a Bulgarian university, without having to pass entrance examinations. He may follow the courses at his own speed and write his examinations on request. Athletes under 15 years of age may not compete without the approval of the medical sub-committee. 

The present Bulgarian records are:

4. The “Elite” and Their Training

In Bulgaria, there are 4 weightlifting “Elite” Groups, as follows:

a. Sport schools

b. Juniors

c. 23 years of age and under (national team reserve)

d. National Team

The number of athletes in these groups are, respectively:

a. 8 x 32 athletes

b. 32 athletes

c. 32 to 36 athletes

d. 32 to 36 athletes

At the present time there are in Bulgaria, also about 10 sports who benefit from the advantages offered by the Sports Schools, including weightlifting to be sure, which has 8 classes spread out between the end of primary school courses and the secondary level.  These athletes follow the same programmes as the regular schools, with the exception that half the day is devoted to sports and the academic programme takes into account the requirements for extensive competition training periods. These schools are not under the direct jurisdiction of the Federation but under that of the regions which ensure the attendance of their most promising material. This is a boarding school under state control. The students only return periodically to their families. If a pupil is particularly gifted in sports but has difficulties in his academic studies, he is sent home. 

The directors of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation believe that the achievement of accomplishments in sports cannot be done without high intellectual qualities (!). More often than not, athletes who arrive at a tender age in their schools learn the basics of their sports before doing any serious training 

The training programme for the older athletes is closely related to that of the “Elite” (see training programme.)

Juniors – 16 to 18 years of age: For this age group, there is a single class of 32 students, engaged in secondary studies and preparation for “phy-ed” professorship. This school is located next to the “Diana” residence which houses the National Teams of most of the sports. The Juniors often train with the National Senior Team. 

23 years of age and under (National Team Reserve): The concept for this group is as for the preceding one, except that more time is available for training since most of the participants are students at university level.  As for the National Team, the three main events of the season are the Danube Cup, The European Championships, and the World Championships. 

The National Team – World Champion: The reason for our trip.  We were slightly late on Tuesday morning for the first training session (bus problems.) Around 11, everyone had completed his warm-up and the large machine was already on its way. The Bulgarian National Team normally consists of 36 athletes (4 by weight class). While not luxurious, the training room has 11 platforms (really only two, the remainder being rubber strips to muffle noise caused by the dropping of weights, but the athlete lifts directly from the wooden floor), three fixed squat racks, 7 or 8 pairs of mobile racks, abdominal board, suspension wall ladder, etc.  The room has also at least 25 Olympic bars of which 16 or 18 are “Eleiko” bars, the rest being German “Schnell-Hantle” bars and Polish bars, plus two machines made in Bulgaria and which are still in the prototype stage.  These machines deserve a special paragraph.  

The Bulgarian National Team training schedule is as follows:

The exercises are not necessarily done in the listed order and I only saw two or three athletes doing bench presses during the week that we were there. As you may have already realized the Bulgarian National Weightlifting Team members are full time lifters.  They do no other work except the odd few who devote a few hours a week to studies. They all live in the “Diana” residence and train together. Each day in the training room, there are two coaches, a physiotherapist, and a doctor in attendance. The training pace is fast and with each movement the athletes try to reach their maximum. 

Contrary to our practices, the Bulgarians warm up a lot, then with three or four bars, they immediately try their maximum (sometimes 10 to 15 attempts with maximum load and gradually decrease the load while increasing repetitions.) We were able during our stay, to witness several training attempts at breaking world records (barely missed.) 

Mr. Stoev told me that Nikolov before leaving for the World Champs in September had snatched 180 kg three times during one training session and had jerked 212.5 kg. The world record at that time totalled 385 kg for the 90 kg class.  It is true that a certain Rigert has since surpassed this. 

The current Bulgarian National Team lifters, most of whom were there are: (the performances or titles are official for the 74 season, Olympic champions excluded.)

The three main annual competitions for the Bulgarian National Team are:

1. Danube Cup (April – 10 to 15 days of special preparation)

2. European Championships (June) – 25 days of special preparation

3. World Championship (September) – 25 days of special preparation

During these preparations the athletes train particularly on the control of the Olympic lifts for the first 10 days then attempt anticipated maximum loads. The rest of the time is spent with 90% of maximum loads. 

Mr. Abadchiev explained to us that the main success principles followed by his Federation and the athletes to succeed are:

1. Adaptation of the human being to his environment

2. Provision of a make-shift environment for each sports person, according to their needs

3. Exploration of the potential of the human being with reference to the sport involved

(Edit: I feel like a fourth, highly anabolic principle may be missing from this list)

The Bulgarian athletes have a maximum limit of 6 to 7 competitions per year. 

5. The Machines

The Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation is at present developing electronic equipment especially for weightlifting.  In fact, we were able to try two machines which permit the measurements of

a. The vertical trajectory of the bar to the nearest millimeter

b. The height to which the bar is raised

c. The speed in 1/10 of a second at any moment of the rise of the bar

The engineer who is working on this project has promised to send me details and prospectus to our Federation as soon as the equipment has been fully tested and patented. This same engineer is also working on another project. This is an electronic eye device one of which will be placed in front of each training platform (at least for the “Elite”). After each movement, each athlete can at a glance, read the height and speed at which his lift was done. 

6.  Middle and Long Term Forecast

1975 – 1) open 10 new clubs

             2) 1st sports schools championships

1979 – World Championships – Projection for this event: Competition Centre with 2500 seats (In Sofia) and 4 training rooms for the “Elite” capable of handling 36 athletes each

1990 – Have 50 weightlifting classes in sports schools with 1500 pupils

2000 – Have 120 clubs and 350 full time coaches

Taken from Official Newsletter/Bulletin Officiel-Federation Halterophile Canadienne (Canadian Weightlifting Federation) Volume 5, Number 2