And Azerbeijan’s & Bulgaria’s love story continues.
Azerbaijan demands 100000 Euros for Ivan Stoitsov’s and Velichko Cholakov’s return to Bulgaria. Of course, as always, women are more expensive. So it comes to no surprise that they want 400000 Euros for Ivan’s girlfriend and 5th place finisher in London, Boyanka Kostova.
The Bulgarian Weightlifting president (BTW, they could not have picked a more mafioso looking picture of him…) is not having any of this. He says
… let the Azerbaijanis look for somebody else who will pay them. We will invest more into our young athletes rather than spending the money the wrong way.
Before the Olympics, in a contract from Nov 30th 2011, Azerbaijan signed Boyanka Kostova and Valentin Hristov for 400000 Euros.
The loophole the Bulgarians try to exploit is that this contract said that both were not allowed to participate in the Olympics, only in the European and World Championships.
Personally, I want more of this and less politics.
Can love bloom in the training hall?