Bulgarian weightlifting coach Ivan Abadjiev died on Saturday aged 85, the national weightlifting federation said, leaving behind a huge legacy of success tainted by scandal. As a coach he revolutionised training methods and his charges won 12 Olympic titles, 57 world titles and 64 European crowns. But positive doping tests by Bulgarian lifters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and Sydney 2000 left his teams discredited and his achievements tarnished.
Appointed national coach in 1969 Abadjiev was credited with creating the intense training methods of 'maximal effort' heavy lifting over long hours that toppled Soviet supremacy in the sport and established a dynasty of Bulgarians in its place.