Obituary

Bulgarian Olympic Champ Dobrev Passes Away

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (April 3) -- Bulgarian wrestler Dimitar Dobrev, a 1960 Olympic champion and multiple-time Olympic medalist in Greco-Roman, passed away on April 1. He was 87 years old. 

Dobrev competed at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, claiming a silver medal in the middleweight division. Four years later, Dobrev captured a gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, competing at middleweight. In addition, he placed in the top five at the World Championships three times. Dobrev was the first and only Bulgarian to serve as the national coach of both freestyle and Greco. 

Born in Ezerche, Bulgaria, Dobrev participated in gymnastics before his competitive wrestling career. He later became a mathematician.

#WrestleAmman

Amman to host U17 Worlds; Novi Sad gets U17, U20 Euros

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (February 23) -- United World Wrestling has reallocated the U17 World Championships to Amman, Jordan.

The 2024 U17 Worlds were originally scheduled to be held in Argentina from August 19 to 25 but UWW was forced to change the host due to the political situation in the country. The tournament will now be held in Amman on the same dates i.e. August 19-25, 2024.

The U17 and U20 European Championships were also shifted with Novi Sad, Serbia named as the new host. This will be a joint event with the U17 European Championships running from June 24 to 30 and the U20 European Championships scheduled from July 1 to 7.

The UWW Bureau arrived at this decision after the previous hosts failed to guarantee that the teams and athletes could come and compete without discrimination, in accordance with the fundamental principles and rules of the Olympic Movement.

As previously announced, the 2024 Non-Olympic Senior World Championships will be hosted in Tirana, Albania, from October 28 to 31, immediately following the 2024 U23 World Championships. UWW decided that the wrestlers who compete at the Olympic Games in Paris will not be allowed to register for this event.