Junior team coach Dimitar Kumchev will take the place of Iliev, who was slated to wrestle at 120 kilograms/275 pounds in freestyle competition at next month's Games.
Where's the Bulgarian big man?
"He (Iliev) just sank out of sight, we can't reach him," Bulgarian freestyle wrestling team coach Valentin Raychev said, adding that Iliev went missing on July 4 when the national team returned to Bulgaria following a training camp in Russia.
Raychev described Iliev as "emotionally unstable."
In 2012, Iliev spent five days in custody following a scuffle with police officers in a community in southwestern Bulgaria.
Iliev qualified for the Rio Games after Belarus' Yusup Jalilau tested positive for doping during the European Olympic Qualifier in May. He had competed in at least three major world events: the 2013 European Championships (where he won a bronze medal) and World Championships, and the 2010 World Championships.
Eleven Bulgarian wrestlers, including three women, will compete at the 2016 Olympics which begin in less than three weeks in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Bulgarian wrestlers have won 16 Olympic titles, making wrestling the most successful sport in the Balkan country.
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