He was elected as the best coach of Bulgaria for 2019 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country together with the trainer on rhythmic gymnastics Vesela Dimitrova.

After the snatch portion of the competition he was in second place (due to being 0.1 kg heavier than leader Lin Qisheng).

[5] In 1996, the IWF restructured the weight classes and Ivanov competed in the newly created 54 kg category.

Ivanov qualified for the Bulgarian 2000 Olympic team and actually did compete in the 56 kg category.

He won a silver medal but failed the doping test and was disqualified.