Atanas Komshev

After graduating from his local sports school Atanas Komshev became one of the best amateur wrestlers in Bulgaria in the 1980s. Specialising in Greco-Roman wrestling, Komshev was soon noticed by the national team and competed at multiple editions of the World and European Championships. He won his first medals in 1982, with silver at the Worlds, along with bronze at the European Championships, both in the -90 kg class. He continued to compete at this weight throughout the decade, winning eight more medals across the two championships, including gold at the 1984 European Championships in Sweden. In 1988 Komshev became the Olympic champion at the Seoul Games, beating Harri Koskela (FIN) to win gold. He returned to the Olympics four years later in Barcelona, but was eliminated mid-way through the competition.

Following his wrestling career Komshev took a spectacular fall from grace, becoming involved in a drugs war and racketeering business. In the early 1990s he was part of a group who would extort Turkish traffickers who would travel via the Hainboaz Pass in southern Bulgaria. In August 1993 he orchestrated the kidnapping of two brothers, which resulted in several police patrol cars pursing him. During the encounter Komshev was shot in the back by the police, but the injury only resulted in a short stay in hospital, with the charges against him eventually being dropped.

Just over a year later Komshev was the passenger in a car travelling from Sofia to funeral. During the journey the car crashed into a truck, which was loaded with bricks, with Komshev taken to hospital in a critical condition. Despite surgery to save him, he died 10 days later. The driver of the car was later given a two-year suspended prison sentence for causing death by dangerous driving, although some claim that Komshev was the victim of a deliberate contract killing. He had only recently celebrated his 35th birthday before his death.