Antonio Krastev

Antonio Krastev (Bulgarian: Антонио Кръстев, 10 October 1961 – 9 July 2020) was a Bulgarian super heavyweight Olympic-style weightlifter best known for his 1987 heaviest ever snatch in IWF competition, at 216 kg. This was only equalled by Behdad Salimi of Iran at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and finally surpassed at the 2017 European Championships by Lasha Talakhadze, who now holds the record of 225 kg. Krastev's record was no longer official after the restructuring of the weight classes in 1993 and 1998.

Krastev was a junior prodigy in weightlifting and is a two-time world (1985, 1986) and European champion (1986, 1987). He was also world junior champion in 1981 and runner-up in 1979. Antonio has six gold medals from World Cup tournaments and has a silver medal from the 1986 World Cup final in Melbourne. The Bulgarian giant is also a two-time Balkan champion and a ten-time Bulgarian champion - five for men and five for juniors. In 1987, he won the Golden Boot award for best performance at the European Championships in Reims, France.

Life Krastev was born in Haskovo and was a two-time World Weightlifting Championships gold medalist and two time European Weightlifting Championships gold medalist, but never competed in the Olympic Games; he was originally intended to represent Bulgaria at the 1988 Olympic Games in the superheavyweight category.

Two of his teammates tested positive for Furosemide and the Bulgarian weightlifting federation pulled the rest of the team out of the competition the day before Krastev was scheduled to compete. At the time, Krastev was a two-time World champion and two-time European champion, and a heavy favorite for the gold medal.

He died at the age of 58 in a car accident on the night of July 9, 2020, in Minnesota.

Major results

World records 15 November 1986 Snatch - 212.5 kg Super Heavyweight Sofia