Stefan Botev on Carlos Nassar: If he can do it without us, let him compete without us

"Carlos Nassar brought his own contract with the federation. We accepted all his conditions, but despite that he hasn't signed it for a month and a half. And without a contract with the federation, there's no way he can receive a salary," said the president of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation Stefan Botev, Topsport reported.

Botev countered Nassar's statement from earlier today that each competitor signs a contract with the respective federation in order to receive a salary.

"We are their employer. At the beginning of the year, all weightlifters signed the same type of contracts proposed by the federation, only he didn't. He doesn't agree with the clauses. It is not true that we want percentages of the advertising revenue that he has found," Botev emphasized to "BTV".

"In this contract, there are still some obligations that each athlete must fulfill towards the federation. Carlos Nassar works for the federation, not the other way around. After everyone has signed the contract, it is clearly not that scary. But since Carlos has separate sponsorships that are possibly affected by what we offer him... For example, if we have a sponsor of the federation and this sponsor wants to take a picture or interview with him, he must go accordingly."

"Every federation has this thing. There is no other federation where a competitor refuses to sign a contract with such clauses. After all, this federation has to feed on something outside the budget, have side funds for bonuses and so on. Nevertheless, I talked to him and agreed - I told him to give us a contract, to look at it and come to an agreement".

"He gave a contract that was beneficial to him. I looked at it - I'm not satisfied, because it's completely different from all the others. Nevertheless, I agreed. I said - okay. Let's sit down and sign it. He told me that he wanted to take it to his people to look at it. We were supposed to talk that same week, but a month and a half passed."

"I'm waiting for him to sign his contract. There's nothing more I can do. And without this contract, the ministry can't allocate money. Not the federation. That's the procedure. We have to present a contract in order to receive money from the ministry for his salary. He hasn't been paid since the beginning of the year. He will get his money back, he just has to sign it."

"If he can do it without us, let him compete without us. No one can represent himself - without a federation. There is no way, it is impossible. You cannot participate as an individual member - you represent the federation, respectively the state. Now he represents the federation, but he does not receive a salary until you sign a contract."

"The clauses are his, not mine, and he must sign them. Regarding the danger of lifting for another country - this is the decision of each athlete, he can leave at any time. He did not tell me that he had such an intention, but we also fulfill all our obligations according to the regulations. I do not see any drama. If he goes to Qatar, let him go. We cannot tie him here. At the time, I went to Australia - I became athlete of the year, and they gave me a cake. I will go, of course. Now there is a lot of money - from the ministry, from sponsors. There can always be more, but..."

"In principle, there is a requirement for all competitors for centralized training, since we have a contract with the Ministry of Sports. They give us funds for centralized, not individual training. But nevertheless, at his request, in order for him to feel good, we have left him to prepare on his own - as he wishes. We make an exception, we are liberal."

"For me, this is not right - we should all be preparing in one place. I have been in the bars for more than 30 years. I have been in the national team longer than Carlos. Such situations with coaches - I want this one, I don't want that one - such a thing has never happened. The competitors' job is to lift bars, and ours is to fix the conditions for them to lift bars."

"We will not like each other, love each other or marry each other. But despite this, in this new time and new generations, we make such concessions so that they are satisfied. And despite this, there is dissatisfaction."

"I have a serious candidate for a sponsor. He says - I want photos and interviews with the entire team. But Carlos already has a contract with competing companies. And what do we do? Every sponsor wants the best one to advertise him. Would he have become a weightlifter without the support of the federation? Every club receives funds from the Ministry of Sports through the federation."

"I know that one of his people wanted to become president of the federation. But when I ran, I was left alone. Now, when things got better, more people came forward", Botev concluded.