Career
He competed in the over 105 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, his first Olympics, winning an Olympic bronze medal. After missing two clean and jerk attempts at 245 kg, he managed to lift a total of 447.5 kg, placing him behind Latvia"s Viktors Ščerbatihs and Iran"s Hossein Reza Zadeh. He is also 2.05 meters tall, this makes lifting more difficult both in regard to distance of elevation and less than ideal limb proportions.
Cholakov tested positive for a steroid in 2008 during an out-of-competition test, along with ten other weightlifters, and therefore Bulgaria"s weightlifting federation withdrew its team from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Apart from Cholakov the athletes who tested positive were Ivailo Filev, Alan Tsagaev, Mehmed Fikretov, Ivan Stoitsov, Ivan Markov, Georgi Markov, Demir Demirev, Milka Maneva, Donka Mincheva and Gergana Kirilova. He was supposed to compete for Azerbaijan during the 2012 Summer Olympics, but withdrew prior to the 105+ kg competition due to health issues.
Snatch: 207.5 kg in 2004 Summer Olympics. Clean and jerk: 245.0 kg 2004 European Weightlifting Championships.
Total: 447.5 kg (2050+2425) 2003 World Weightlifting Championships.
