Bad newsParis Bronze Medallist Andreev Banned for Four Years After Steroid Test
Weightlifter Bozhidar Andreev of Bulgaria tested positive for the steroid mesterolone in an out-of-competition test in October 2025. His ban runs to 17 November 2029, past the Los Angeles Games, unless he wins an appeal.
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Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Andreev, a bronze medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has been banned from weightlifting for four years for doping. The International Testing Agency (ITA), which runs anti-doping for the International Weightlifting Federation, announced the sanction on 6 November. He is 29 and has been provisionally suspended since November 2025.
The ITA says an out-of-competition test on 15 October 2025 found a metabolite of mesterolone. The substance is an anabolic androgenic steroid, banned at all times under the World Anti-Doping Agency list and classed by the ITA as a non-specified substance. The ITA describes it as a drug that raises testosterone levels.
What the ban covers
The ban runs from 18 November 2025, the day he was provisionally suspended, until 17 November 2029. All his competitive results from 15 October to 18 November 2025 are disqualified. The Independent notes that this rules him out of the Los Angeles Olympics, which begin in July 2028. His Paris medal is not affected, since the positive sample was taken in October 2025, more than a year after those Games.
The ITA says it issued the decision in writing under article 8.3.3 of the federation’s rules. Its own footnote explains that this route is open when an athlete does not contest the violation and does not ask for a hearing. The athlete or other parties with a right of appeal can still go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The ITA says it will not comment further.
Andreev won bronze in the 73kg class in Paris with a total of 344kg, behind Rizki Juniansyah of Indonesia and Weeraphon Wichuma of Thailand. He was fifth at Tokyo 2021 and won the 2014 Youth Olympic title. He was European champion in 2019 and 2024, and in Sofia in 2024 he set a European clean and jerk record of 193kg with a 348kg total. He also took bronze at the 2019 world championships in Pattaya.
No source says whether he plans to appeal or has responded publicly. Neither gives a reason for the gap of a year between the test and the final decision, beyond the provisional suspension that was in place in the meantime.
