 Botev was originally intended to represent Bulgaria at the 1988 Olympic Games in the heavyweight category.Two of his teammates who had won gold medals in their weight classes tested positive for banned substances, and the Buglarian weightlifting federation pulled the rest of the team out of the competition the day before Botev was scheduled to compete.Mitko Grablev (56 kg) & Angel Guenchev (67.5 kg) were both disqualified after they tested positive for Furosemide.