Bozhidar Andreev

Introduction

Bozhidar Dimitrov Andreev is a Bulgarian weightlifter who won bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the men’s 73-kilogram class, and who was banned for four years for doping in an announcement by the International Testing Agency (ITA) on Friday, November 6, 2026. Andreev, 29, tested positive the previous year for mesterolone, an anabolic steroid, and the ban runs to November 2029 — a period that covers the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games and, at his age, likely the competitive peak of his career. His Paris Olympic bronze medal is not affected by the doping violation.

Background Information

Andreev was one of Bulgaria’s most decorated weightlifters of the modern era before the violation. He took bronze in the 73-kilogram class at the 2024 Paris Olympics, placed fifth in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, won the gold medal at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, and was twice a European champion. The positive test for mesterolone came the year after his Olympic bronze, placing the violation squarely inside the Olympic cycle leading to Los Angeles 2028.

Mesterolone is an anabolic steroid. The ITA said in its statement: “Mesterolone is known for its potent androgenic properties by increasing testosterone levels and enhancing male sexual characteristics.” The agency handles anti-doping testing and case management for Olympic sport, including weightlifting, and announced the four-year sanction in the Friday statement carried by the Associated Press.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Banned four years for doping. Olympic bronze medallist Bozhidar Andreev tested positive for the anabolic steroid mesterolone and received a four-year ban running to November 2029, ruling him out of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Andreev tested positive for mesterolone in 2025, the year following his Paris bronze. The International Testing Agency announced on Friday, November 6, 2026, that he had been banned for four years, running to November 2029. The sanction begins from the date set by the agency and extends across the entire competitive window that would have included the 2028 Los Angeles Games, at which Andreev, who would be 31, would otherwise have contested a second Olympic medal.

The four-year period is the standard sanction for a first deliberate doping violation in the World Anti-Doping Code framework, as distinct from shorter bans for substances where an athlete can prove contamination or inadvertent use. The ITA’s announcement did not record any such mitigation in Andreev’s case, and the ban was published as a completed four-year sanction to November 2029.

Crucially for Bulgaria’s Olympic medal count, the agency confirmed that Andreev’s Olympic medal is not affected by the doping conviction: his 2024 bronze stands, and no results disqualification beyond the ban itself was announced. Andreev retains the right to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the avenue used by athletes who dispute the finding or the sanction.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The ban was carried internationally by the Associated Press and its member outlets, which framed it around the loss of the Los Angeles Olympics: an Olympic bronze medallist barred through November 2029 misses the Games that would have defined the end of his career. Bulgarian weightlifting, a discipline with a deep Olympic history, loses its most recent Olympic medallist for the entire Los Angeles cycle.

For the weightlifting programme, the case registers a second-generation concern: a 2014 Youth Olympic champion and 2024 Olympic bronze medallist testing positive for an anabolic steroid within a single Olympic cycle of his medal. The ITA’s publication of the mesterolone finding, and the four-year sanction, place the violation on the public anti-doping record that governs his eligibility.

Current Status

As of November 2026, Bozhidar Andreev is serving a four-year ban from competition running to November 2029, imposed for a mesterolone positive from 2025 and announced by the International Testing Agency on November 6, 2026. He is barred from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as a result. His Paris 2024 bronze medal stands, and he retains the right to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport; no appeal had been announced in the days after the sanction was published.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The ban converts Andreev from an active Olympic medallist into an athlete excluded from all competition through his 31st year, the age window in which 73-kilogram weightlifters typically produce their best international results. A return in late 2029 would leave at most one Olympic cycle, at Milan-Cortina’s winter distance and then Brisbane 2032, for a career restart after four years away from sanctioned competition. Until any CAS appeal changes the picture, the four-year sanction is the operative fact of his sporting life.

Sources

• “Paris Olympics weightlifting medalist Andreev banned 4 years for doping with anabolic steroid” — Associated Press via Fox 8 Cleveland WJW, Nov. 6, 2026 source