Akif Pirim

Mehmet Âkif Pirim (born September 17, 1968 in Rize ) is a former wrestler who competed for Turkey and Azerbaijan . He became a featherweight Olympic champion in the Greco-Roman style in 1992 .

Career

Mehmet Akif Pirim began wrestling as a teenager in 1984 at the Rize Çaykurspor sports club , focusing on the Greco-Roman style. He later moved to the renowned Turkish sports club TEDAŞ Spor Kulübü in Ankara. At a height of 1.60 meters, he fought in featherweight. During his career he has had a number of excellent coaches. These were Vayramali Karaali, Osman Destebasi, Gennadi Sapunow , Bilal Tabur , Ömer Suzan, Mehmet Acak, Haluk Koc and Yakup Topuz. In addition to wrestling, he completed a sports degree at a university.

His international career began in 1988 when he took part in the Junior World Championship (Espoirs age group) in Walbrzych / Poland. He finished 7th in bantamweight . This was his only start in an international championship in the youth field. He made his debut at an international senior championship in 1991 at the European Championships in Aschaffenburg. He reached the 9th place in featherweight. In the same year he won the Mediterranean Games in Athens before Denni Urbinato from Italy. He celebrated his first big success in September 1991 at the World Championships in Varna. He got there in featherweight up to the final, in which he led against Sergei Martynow from the Soviet Union with 1-0 points until shortly before the end, but then had to give a bigger rating and so still lost this fight. He became vice world champion.

At the European Championships in Copenhagen in 1992, Mehmet Akif Pirim won points over Mario Büttner from Germany, but ended up only in 7th place overall. Well prepared by the new Turkish national coach, the former head coach of the Soviet national team in the Greco-Roman wrestling Gennady Sapunow , he then competed at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. He came to featherweight victories over Juan Luis Maren Delis , Cuba (3: 2 points after extra time), Usama Azis, Sweden (5: 0), Stanislaw Grigorjew, Bulgaria (2: 1), Jenő Bódi , Hungary (7: 3 ) and the reigning world and European champion Sergei Martynow, whom he downright outclassed with 13: 2 points. He became Olympic champion with it .

In 1993 Mehmet Akif Pirim started at the European Championships in Istanbul. There he lost his first fight against Sergei Martynow, who was able to return the favor with a clear victory (9-0 points) for his clear defeat at the Olympic Games. In the consolation round, Mehmet Akif Pirim still fought for a bronze medal with victories over Alexander Dawidowitsch, Israel, Mchitar Manukjan, Armenia and Georgi Saskavez, Belarus. After evaluating the doping tests carried out at this championship, however, he was convicted of doping . The bronze medal he won was revoked and he was banned until May 9, 1997. In 1995, however, he was pardoned by an inconsistent court of arbitration from the FILA and was able to participate in international championships again from 1995.

At the 1995 European Championships in Besançon he reached 6th place in featherweight and at the 1996 World Championships in Prague, where he suffered defeats against Wlodzimierz Zawadzki, Poland and Mchitar Manukjan, he only came in 12th place. He did better again at the European Championships in Budapest in 1996, where he finished 5th. A better placement prevented Sergei Martynow, who won against Mehmet Akif Pirim at this championship. He then presented himself in excellent shape at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. There he lost his first fight against Ivan Radnew , Bulgaria, because he was still weakened from a lot of training. After that, strengthened by fluid and food intake, he started a one-time triumphant advance, but could only with his victories over Winston Santos Fuentos, Venezuela, Hu Guohong, China, Ahad Pazaj, Iran, Mchitar Manukjan, Grigori Kamuschenko , Ukraine and Koba Guliaschwili , Georgia fight more for a bronze medal .

1997 came the surprising end for Mehmet Akif Pirim as No. 1 in his weight class in the Turkish national wrestling team. He was defeated by Şeref Eroğlu at the Turkish championship and never got past this wrestler who, by the way, became world champion in 1997. Therefore, at the beginning of 1999, he changed citizenship and became an Azerbaijani. For Azerbaijan he then started at the 1999 World Cup in Athens. He came there to a victory over Emil Budinow, Bulgaria and Christos Gikas, Greece, but then lost to Park Young-shin, South Korea. With these results he only finished 14th and was not considered by the Azerbaijani Wrestling Association at other international championships. His wrestling career was over.

He took on the Turkish citizenship again and is now active as a trainer and wrestler official.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1988	7th	Junior European Championship (Espoirs) in Walbrzych	Bantam	Winner: Ryszard Wolny , Poland ahead of Kamo Ambarzumjan, USSR
1991	9.	EM in Aschaffenburg	feather	Winner: Wlodzimierz Zawadzki, Poland in front of Mario Büttner, Germany and Gennadi Atmakin, USSR
1991	1.	Mediterranean Games in Athens	feather	before Denni Urbinati, Italy and Woitschislaw Matic, Yugoslavia
1991	2.	World Cup in Varna	feather	behind Sergei Martynow, USSR, in front of Juan Luis Maren Delis, Cuba and Huh Byung-ho, South Korea
1992	1.	German Grand Prix in Dortmund	feather	before Constantin Dodita, Romania and Stanislaw Grigorjew, Bulgaria
1992	7th	EM in Copenhagen	feather	Winner: Sergei Martynow ahead of Hugo Dietsche , Switzerland and Jenö Bodi, Hungary
1992	gold	OS in Barcelona	feather	after victories over Juan Luis Maren Delis, Usama Aziz, Sweden, Stanislaw Grigorjew, Jenö Bodi and Sergei Martynow
1993	11.	German Grand Prix in Koblenz	feather	Winner: Sergei Martynow ahead of Wlodzimierz Zawadzki and Jenö Bodi
1993	1.	Mediterranean Games in Languedoc-Roussillon	feather	before Konstantinos Arkoudeas, Greece and Thierry Bastien, France
1995	1.	Military World Cup in Rome	feather	in front of Wlodzimierz Zawadzki and Pawel Kharov, Russia
1995	6th	EM in Besançon	feather	Winner: Wlodzimierz Zawadzki ahead of Sergei Martynow and Igor Petrenko, Belarus
1995	12.	World Cup in Prague	feather	after defeats against Wlodzimierz Zawadzki and Mchitar Manukjan, Armenia
1996	5.	EM in Budapest	feather	behind Sergei Martynow, Grigori Kamuschenko, Ukraine, Mchitar Manukjan and Wlodzimierz Zawadzki
1996	bronze	OS in Atlanta	feather	after a defeat against Ivan Radnew, Bulgaria and victories over Winston Santos Fuentes, Venezuela, Hu Guohong, China, Ahad Pazaj, Iran, Mchitar Manukjan, Grigori Kamuschenko and Koba Guliaschwili, Georgia
1997	1.	Mediterranean Games in Bari	feather	in front of Thierry Bastien and Aristidis Rubanjan, Greece
1998	17th	FILA test tournament in Faenza	Light	Winner: Liubal Colas Oris, Cuba ahead of David S. Zuniga, USA
1999	14th	World Cup in Athens	feather	after victories over Emil Budinow, Bulgaria and Christos Gikas, Greece and a defeat against Park Young-shin, South Korea

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
• Bantamweight, until 1996 up to 57 kg, feather weight, until 1996 up to 62 kg, from 1997 to 2001 up to 63 kg, lightweight, from 1997 to 2001 up to 69 kg

Awards

• 1992: Sedat Simavi Prize for Sport

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website

Web links

• Akif Pirim in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )