Velichko Cholakov

Velichko Cholakov

Personal information
Born	(1982-01-12) 12 January 1982 Smolyan, Bulgaria
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)[1]
Weight	170 kg (375 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Azerbaijan
Sport	Weightlifting
Event(s)	+105 kg
Medal record Representing  Bulgaria Men’s Weightlifting Olympic Games 2004 Athens + 105 kg World Championships 2003 Vancouver + 105 kg European Championships 2004 Kiev + 105 kg 2006 Władysławowo + 105 kg
Updated on 26 July 2012.

Velichko Cholakov (Bulgarian: Величко Чолаков, born 12 January 1982 in Smolyan) is an ethnically Bulgarian Azerbaijani weightlifter.^[1]

He competed in the over 105 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, his first Olympics, winning an Olympic bronze medal. After missing two clean and jerk attempts at 245 kg, he managed to lift a total of 447.5 kg, placing him behind Latvia's Viktors Ščerbatihs and Iran's Hossein Reza Zadeh.

Velichko won the European weightlifting title in Kiev, Ukraine in 2004, and finished second at the World championship in Vancouver in 2003. In 2002, he won gold medals at both the European and World Youth Weightlifting championships.

He is also 2.05 meters tall, this makes lifting more difficult both in regard to distance of elevation and less than ideal limb proportions.

Cholakov tested positive for a steroid in 2008 during an out-of-competition test, along with ten other weightlifters, and therefore Bulgaria's weightlifting federation withdrew its team from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Apart from Cholakov the athletes who tested positive were Ivailo Filev, Alan Tsagaev, Mehmed Fikretov, Ivan Stoitsov, Ivan Markov, Georgi Markov, Demir Demirev, Milka Maneva, Donka Mincheva and Gergana Kirilova. ^[2] He was supposed to compete for Azerbaijan during the 2012 Summer Olympics, but withdrew prior to the 105+ kg competition due to health issues.^[3]

Career bests

• Snatch: 207.5 kg in 2004 Summer Olympics.
• Clean and jerk: 245.0 kg 2004 European Weightlifting Championships.
• Total: 447.5 kg (205.0+242.5) 2003 World Weightlifting Championships.^[4]

References