Atanas Shopov Competes for Bulgaria in Ulm, Germany
History in Color:
March 5, 1972, Ulm, Germany – 20-year old candidate to the Bulgarian Olympic team, Atanas Shopov of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria performs a 2nd clean-and-jerk attempt in the 90kg weight class at the 1972 pre-Olympic tournament in Ulm, Germany.
6 months after the tournament in Ulm, Shopov won a silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
Atanas Shopov (b. 1951) was a member of the first Bulgarian teams assembled by legendary coach Ivan Abadzhiev. He was selected to represent his country at two Summer Olympics. While competing in the 90kg weight class, he won a silver medal in Munich (1972) and a bronze medal in Montreal (1976). At the World championships he also had a silver (1972) and a bronze (1976) medals. Shopov won a silver (1972) and bronze medals (1971, 1973). He was a champion of Bulgaria in 1970 and vice-champion in 1972, 1973 and 1975.