Ahmet Ayık

Ahmet Ayık (born March 31, 1938 in Eskiköy , Sivas ) is a former Turkish wrestler and sports official .

Career

Ayık grew up in Doğanşar . At the age of 18 he came to modern competitive wrestling via traditional Turkish wrestling and soon rose to become one of the best Turkish freestyle wrestlers. The coaches Celal Atik and İsmet Atlı had great merits. In 1961 he was the first Turkish middleweight champion. From 1962 he started with great success in international championships. He was the only wrestler of his time that the outstanding Soviet wrestler Alexander Medved could not defeat. On the other hand, Ayık wins over Medvedev, Schota Lomidze and Ivan Jarygin . Ayık's greatest success was his Olympic victory in Mexico City in 1968 , after winning the silver medal in Tokyo in 1964 .

Ayık is now a businessman and was President of the Turkish Wrestling Association from 1997 to 2000. In 2004 he was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame for his services to wrestling .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = freestyle, Wed = middleweight, then up to 87 kg body weight, Hs = light heavyweight, body weight, then up to 97 kg body weight)

• 1963, 5th place , World Cup in Sofia , F, Hs, with victories over Günther Bauch , GDR , Francisc Balla , Romania , Bogdan Bartkowiak, Poland and defeats against Tatsuo Sasaki, Japan and Mansour Mehdizadeh, Iran
• 1964, silver medal , OS in Tokyo, F, Hs, with victories over Hugh Williams, Australia , Gholamreza Takhti , Iran and a draw against Said Mustafow , Bulgaria and Alexander Medved, USSR
• 1965, 1st place , World Championships in Manchester , F, Hs, with victories over Shinya Takizawa, Japan, Ryszard Dlugosz, Poland, Robert Chambert, Canada , Lennart Eriksson, Sweden, Said Mustafow and Alexander Medwed
• 1966, 2nd place , EM in Essen , F, Hs, with victories over Vasil Todorow, Bulgaria, Horst Schwarz, FRG, Herbert Lins, Austria , Dlugosz and one defeat against Schota Lomidze , USSR
• 1966, 2nd place , World Championship in Toledo / USA , F, Hs, with victories over Jesse Lewis, USA, Peter Jutzeler, Switzerland, Said Mustafow, Gholamreza Takhti and a draw against Alexander Medwed
• 1967, 1st place , EM in Istanbul , F, Hs, with victories over Sinisa Rangelov, Yugoslavia , Heinz Kiehl , FRG, Schota Lomidze and Hjusni Hjusniew, Bulgaria
• 1967, 1st place , World Cup in New Delhi , F, Hs, with victories over József Csatári , Hungary, Harry Houska, USA, Gerd Bachmann, GDR, Schota Lomidse and Said Mustafow
• 1968, gold medal , OS in Mexico City, F, Hs, with victories over Dlugosz, Hollogin Baianmunkh, Mongolia , József Csatári, Mustafow and a draw against Jesse Lewis, USA and Schota Lomidze
• 1970, 1st place , EM in Berlin , F, Hs, with victories over Alfons Hecher , FRG, Alfred Menzi, Switzerland, Csatari, Iwan Jarygin, USSR and Vasil Todorow, Bulgaria

Web links

• Profile of Ahmet Ayık at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Ahmet Ayık in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )