Despite an Olympic gold medal and multiple world records, Karlos Nasar has not been paid for his efforts by his home country and may even miss out on the upcoming 2024 World Weightlifting Championships in December.
- Nasar, 20, set two Senior world records and won gold during the Men’s 89-kilogram weightlifting event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
According to reporting by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), turbulence within the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation (BWF) jeopardizes the trajectory of the country’s most talented weightlifter in a generation.
Karlos Nasar: Empty-Handed?
Nasar is the most dominant male weightlifter in the world. Yet per the BTA on Sept. 16, 2024, the Bulgarian prodigy had not been paid a salary for his international sporting appearances in nearly a year.
- “I just want a man with vision to come into our Federation and do his job,” Nasar reportedly said during a press conference in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital and the site of the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships, where Nasar won one of his most prized titles in commanding fashion.
The BTA agency reported that Nasar claims to have not been paid for his efforts in the last eight months due to financial woes within the BWF.
- The BWF president noted that the federation’s “bank account” has “zero balance” and that existing debts tally close to 1 million Bulgarian levs, or roughly $567,000.
- In July, Forbes reported that the Bulgarian state government awards $1,000 dollars or more, per month, to its gold-medal-winning athletes for life. This compensation stands distinct from what Nasar is owed by his weightlifting federation.
- In the United States, the U.S. Olympic Committee paid Olympic gold medalists from Paris $37,500.
- Between November and December 2024, Team USA’s Olympian weightlifters receive a $2,500 monthly stipend from USA Weightlifting.
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Will Karlos Nasar Miss the 2024 World Championships?
As Nasar clashes with the BWF, whose President has accused the gold medalist of making false statements to the media, the 2024 World Weightlifting Championships in December loom closer.
Nasar has no intention of missing out on Worlds this year. However, he did acknowledge it as a possibility while speaking to Bulgarian press if the BWF continues its managerial mishaps.
- Weightlifters with contentious relationships in their home countries, or who cannot receive adequate internal support, have in the past swapped banners to other nations; Gor Minasyan, an Armenian, won bronze in the super-heavy division in Paris as a Bahraini athlete.
- Per the International Weightlifting Federation’s event calendar, the 2024 World Weightlifting Championships will occur between Dec. 6 and 15.
“My wish is to become Olympic champion at least once more, and why not a third and fourth time,” Nasar said. “There are many steps ahead of us, the first of which is the World Championships in Bahrain.”
Nasar is an 89-kilogram competitor on the preliminary entry list for the World Championships as of Sep. 13, 2024. He holds two of the class’s three world records.
The BTA reporting specified that Nasar may opt to bulk up into a heavier weight class should he take to the lifting platform in Bahrain at the end of the year — if he’s there.
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