February 22, 1980 - March 21 2015 

Milen Dobrev is the Olympic champion in weightlifting in the 94 kg category from Athens, Greece, in 2004. He is a two-time world and European champion. Our first fellow citizen to achieve an Olympic title in the bars as a member of the Plovdiv club ("Maritsa-Olymp"). After taking the victory from the Play of Goodwill in Brisbane, Australia, in 2001, he established himself in the elite of the world bars. The world title of Milen Dobrev is from Vancouver, Canada, in 2003. He was the European champion in 2003 in Lautraki, Greece, and in 2004 in Kiev, Ukraine. Milen Dobrev has been lifting weights since 1991 with Georgi Yotovski, when he was a sixth-grader at the Vasil Levski Sports School and competed for Maritza. As a soldier (1999-2000), he was in the CSKA team. Milen Dobrev returned to Maritza (Plovdiv) and trained with Dimitar Staykov in 2002. He was in the extended men's national team on February 11, 2001. Milen Dobrev made his debut at the European Men's Championship in Trenčín, Slovakia. He also made a debut at the World Championships in Antalya, Turkey, winning his first major medal - a bronze in the 85 kg category, and in 2002 won a silver medal at the European Championships in Antalya, Turkey, in the 94 kg category.The same year he was second at the World Cup in Warsaw, Poland. From 2003 Milen Dobrev moved to Maritza-Olymp and continued until the end of his career with coach Krastyo Milev.

Milen Dobrev has been an honorary citizen of the city of Plovdiv since 2004. At a ceremony on April 20, 2005 at the Greek Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, he was declared an honorary citizen of Athens, Greece.