Olympic Hopes of Asenovgrad (Bulgaria)
Asenovgrad, Bulgaria, 1970s – Candidates to national Team Bulgaria, young and promising weightlifters from the city of Asenovgrad (left to right):
Trendafil Stoychev, Khristo Plachkov, Jordan Mitkov.
They were all part of the new wave of Olympic weightlifters, “Olympic hopes” selected by coach Ivan Abadzhiev for the national Team Bulgaria.
They looked nothing like a good old stereotypical bulky, “mountains-of-muscles” type of athletes.
They were younger, faster and they went right to the top of the world of Olympic weightlifting.
Today, it’s not a big news for the followers of the Iron Game.
Back in the early 1970s, it was a revolution in the sports.