When the 15-year-old entered the sports school "Olympic Hopes" (Sofia) (1973), the judicial commission determined Rusev to be incapable of weightlifting, which is why he started as a football player and wrestler (in his own words, he himself did not immediately determine his calling). Eleven years later, Janko Rusev ended his sports career as a five-time world champion, a five-time European champion and the champion of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. He has set 34 world records and is the only Bulgarian weightlifter to be featured in the World Weightlifting Fame Museum in Istanbul.
He came to weightlifting at the invitation of Ivan Abadzhiev.
Trained with T. Kolev. He played for the Volov sports club in the city of Shumen. He made his debut at the World Weightlifting Championships in Stuttgart (1977), took second place.
He changed the weight category several times, started at featherweight (up to 60 kg), moved to lightweight (up to 67.5 kg), then to welterweight (up to 75 kg) and returned to lightweight again.
After the Friendship tournament in Varna (1984) he ended his sports career, for 6 years he was the assistant coach of Ivan Abadzhiev. In 1985 he graduated from the National Sports Academy. In 1990 he went to Japan, where he was a consultant for the national team.
Since 1995 he has been a personal trainer of famous Bulgarian weightlifters, assistant coach of the national team and executive director of the Levski Weightlifting Sports Complex. Senior coach of the Azerbaijan national weightlifting team (2009-2011).
