Carlos Nassar's success is undeniable. In recent days, however, the athlete has found himself in the spotlight because of a photo with Delyan Peevski. Did Nassar have a choice? By Martin Atanasov.
Carlos Nassar's success is undeniable and rare: three world titles in three different categories, world records, Olympic gold and that difficult-to-define feeling that our sport once again has a face that inspires. That is why his responsibility is even greater than the weights on the bar: it is to the children who follow him and to the society that projects its hopes on him. When you are at the top, the task is not only to stay there, but to show that you deserve it – with a conscious example to follow.
Days after his latest peak, Carlos Nassar found himself in the spotlight because of a photo with the leader of the DPS-New Beginning, Delyan Peevski, which raised a number of questions.
How it all started
The scandal erupted after the participation of the president of the Weightlifting Federation, Stefan Botev, on BNT, immediately after Nassar's latest huge victory. There, Botev announced that the leader of the DPS-New Beginning is behind Nassar's successes, referring to the financial aid announced at the beginning of the year, which Peevski announced and with which he saved the entire federation from bankruptcy.
Carlos Nassar responded publicly in an interview with bTV that he had not received a single penny from the federation for his preparation for the world championship, from which he returned with a gold medal. He announced that he does not receive a salary from the federation and that his entire maintenance is covered by private sponsors.
The photo "under the coat of arms"
This public statement by the weightlifter brought to light a civil war in his native weightlifting. However, it lasted only five days. On Wednesday morning, a statement was released by the press center of the DPS-New Beginning that Delyan Peevski had met with Nassar, accompanied by a photo under the infamous coat of arms in Peevski's office in the National Assembly.
The photo went viral in minutes on the media and social networks. It shows the handshake between Peevski and Nassar, officially announced as a testament to "support for sports".
However, what many people did not see was the message of the photo. The shot is under the same coat of arms that "New Beginning" traditionally uses for photos with all defeated opponents, turning it into a trophy – a ritual of supremacy and symbolic assimilation of opponents and influential figures.
This is a demonstration by Peevski. This is a message that whoever you are and whatever you do – while you are in Bulgaria, you cannot help but respect it. And when a national champion stands under the coat of arms, the sign increases its power: the symbolic capital of sport is used to legitimize political power. And if we are talking about a politician with a heavy negative reputation and international sanctions, the price of this ritual becomes even higher.
Why did it come to this?
Elite sport at the international level, of which Nassar is a part, is connected to national headquarters - contracts, quotas, medical certifications, logistics. Without a federation, there is no participation in world and European championships. But when the survival of the weightlifting federation depends on the personal support of not just a sponsor or businessman, but a single politician - things are different.
The problem is not that an athlete took a picture with a politician. The problem is that sports federations rely on private paternalistic finances, tied to political influence. In this configuration, a "yes" or "no" from a leader can decide the budget of the entire system and the careers of its talents. Until this changes, we will continue to see photos "under the coat of arms" – with champions, with opponents, with everyone who decides the big "D".
Were there alternatives?
When an authority built on the podium thanks to years of work and success is placed in a frame for a collection intended to legitimize someone's political position, and thus personal prestige is used for someone else's purpose – trust in this authority begins to crumble.
The pressure of the system in Bulgaria is real: the rules of the competitions go through the federation, and the athlete does not control these processes. But there is still a choice. A champion can set conditions – transparency about funding, clear commitments, refusal of political figures when they are clearly used for demonstration.
There is no doubt that at 21-22 years old, such reflections are difficult, especially when you realize that you are risking your entire sporting future. But the greatest and most successful athletes become role models not only because of their weights on the bar, but also because of their actions outside the sports podium.
In this particular case, Nassar had a choice: to come out and say: "Peevski called me for a meeting to take pictures and end the misunderstandings in the federation. I refused". Such a position would probably explode support for him and would convert sports capital into an even stronger public one. We would see not just a champion, but a symbol of civic values.
Success and responsibility
Sports success is not only personal glory – it carries public responsibility. The higher the podium, the clearer the boundary should be: athletes should not allow themselves to be used for political purposes. Depoliticizing sports in our country is difficult, but not impossible; it requires firmness, consistency and refusal of tempting offers that turn victories into medals for someone else.
Our commitment as fans and society is to support young talents – to give them trust, respect and a chance to grow. Their commitment is equally clear: not to give us reasons to stop supporting them – neither with abuses, nor with political uses, nor with gestures that replace the meaning of their efforts. Only when these two responsibilities meet, sport in Bulgaria can receive support and reap success.
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This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the State News Agency as a whole.