The White Prisoner, by Ognian Georgiev

From 1999 to 2003, Galabin Boevski was one of the biggest stars in the sport of weightlifting.  His accolades included Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year, 3 European championships, 2 world championships, and a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.  But drugs took him down, more than once.

Bulgarian sports writer Ognian Georgiev has written The White Prisoner: Galabin Boevski's Secret Story, which covers Galabin's childhood and entry into the sport of weightlifting, his impressive and rocky career, and his imprisonment for drug trafficking in Brazil.  There was plenty to work against him at every step of the way.  His family was not a part of the elite, and he lived in a small town, so he to find his place in the sports world by luck and a lot of hard work.

He found great success, but at two different times, he suffered a ban from the sport because of prohibited drugs.  Georgiev stays objective in his reporting, but I was curious: Did Boevski really use banned substances in his training?  Georgiev strongly implies that the samples has been tampered with, suggesting that there was a conspiracy against Boevski.  His trainers kept him on a regimen of drugs, the make up of which Boevski didn't know.  He did eventually refuse some of the drugs pushed on him by his trainers, but it wasn't clear whether these were banned substances.

The drug trafficking conviction is even more mysterious.  He bought brand new suitcases while on a trip to Brazil.  Drug dogs at the airport discovered 9 kilos of cocaine in the suitcase lining.  How did Boevski not notice nearly 20 pounds of extra weight in the brand new suitcases?  That question is what led to his conviction.  He plead his innocence, was convicted to serve 9 years, but was released in two.  I don't know what all went on there, but Boevski maintains (and Georgiev implies) his innocence.

The White Prisoner is an interesting look into the world competitive weightlifting, and an intimate picture of one man's strange journey in that world.  Based on this account, integrity is hard to come by in this sport.  Boevski's integrity seems to have been above the fray, but The White Prisoner doesn't give a final verdict.  In any case, Boevski was one of the greatest.  The White Prisoner has been translated from Bulgarian, and has the feel of a rough translation at times.  The narrative doesn't flow very well at times, which may be a problem of translation or editing or just style.  In any case, I enjoyed reading about Boevski and getting a glimpse of his world.



Thanks to the author for the complimentary electronic review copy, provided in exchange for an honest review!