At the age of 10, Nasar was capable of lifting 45kgs. His prowess stood out and he gained experience fast, out of necessity.
The young boy was not from a well-off family, nor did he have the opportunities of most of his peers.
“Sport was the thing that I knew I had and would put me ahead of others who had more opportunities than I had,” he said on the podcast.
By the time he turned 16, the lifter from Cherven Bryag, a town in northern Bulgaria, was already a continental silver medallist.
A year later, he broke the world record in the men’s 81kg with a clean and jerk of 208kg. His total lift of 374kg, which won him the 2021 world title, were junior and youth world records.
The Bulgarian was the third-youngest world champion at 17 years old and 214 days, behind compatriot Sevdalin Marinov, who was just a month older when he became a world champion in the 52kg class in 1985.
Nasar was just getting started. The double European champion, who trains with Plamen Bratoychev, a two-time Olympian, was growing stronger and better, and it was almost impossible to defeat him in competition.
“At my second ever weightlifting event against lifters in my age group, I came in third. It made me very uncomfortable,” recalled the prodigy, whose first competition was as a nine-year-old against older weightlifters.
“I have so many medals, I don’t even count them. Not just for weightlifting but medals in chess and athletics. In weightlifting, I am always thinking that if I am not first, it’s just not enough. So, when I was nine, that was my only third place and the silver medals [from 2021 and 2022 Europeans], from then on it has been first place, first, first…”