In surprising international wrestling news, the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation reportedly plans to keep two 2024 Olympic Gold medalists from competing for Bulgaria at Worlds and Olympics - Magomed Ramazanov and Semen Novikov. Ramazanov, transferred from Russia in 2024 and won the 86 kg gold medal in men's freestyle. Ramazanov notably defeated both Aaron Brooks and Hassan Yazdani on his way to gold in Paris. Novikov, transferred from Ukraine in 2023, and was the 87 kg gold medalist in the Greco-Roman division. 

Bulgarian Federation Drama Explained

As with most things in international wrestling, the situation in Bulgaria is complicated and challenging to understand fully. The root of this issue seems to stem from Stanka Zlateva being elected as the new president of the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation in March of 2025. Zlateva is one of Bulgaria's most accomplished wrestlers as a two-time Olympic silver medalist and five-time world champion. According to Wrestdag, the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation's elections, "divided the local wrestling community into two camps and were accompanied by a tough confrontation between the local oligarch Grisha Ganchev and the former coach of the famous athlete Stanka Zlateva."

That division in the Bulgarian wrestling community has most recently resulted in the firing of the multiple Bulgarian national team coaches - Soslan Farniev, Valentin Angelov, and Miroslav Gochev. The Bulgarian Wrestling Federation stated its strategy moving forward is, "...the rejuvenation of the Bulgarian national teams and national sets without naturalized competitors."

According to several Russian wrestling news outlets, this new strategy means the Bulgarian Federation plans to keep transfers from competing for Bulgaria at the World Championships and Olympic Games moving forward. Therefore, both Olympic Champions Magomed Ramazanov and Semen Novikov would be ineligible to compete for Bulgaria on the biggest stage.

What Options Do Ramazanov & Novikov Have?

According to United World Wrestling's transfer guidelines, "A wrestler has the possibility to change his nationality once during his career whatever the age and the wrestling style." That means neither Ramazanov nor Novikov would be eligible to transfer back to their country of origin because they already transferred to Bulgaria. This doesn't leave Ramazanov and Novikov many options. 

That means the only presumable path forward is for these two wrestlers to retire or for them to look for help from outside organizations. United World Wrestling, the International governing body for wrestling, would likely have the ability to intervene in this situation. Outside of UWW, Ramazanov and Novikov could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation does not allow them to compete at the World Championships. 

This story is still unfolding, so there aren't many details on Ramazanov and Novikov's plans at this time. We'll continue to keep you informed as this story unfolds.