Celal Atik

Celal Atik medal table
Wrestling
Turkey
Olympic games
gold	1948 London	Easy freestyle
World Championship
silver	1950 Stockholm	Welter Greco
gold	1951 Helsinki	World freestyle
European Championship
gold	1946 Stockholm	Easy freestyle
silver	1947 Prague	Easily Greco
gold	1949 Istanbul	World freestyle

Celal Atik (* 1918 in Gürden, today Yazıkışla Köyü , Boğazlıyan , Yozgat ; † April 27, 1979 in Ankara ) was a Turkish wrestler

Career

Celal Atik started wrestling in Ankara and won his first Turkish championship in 1938. His name was originally Celal Dogan, but changed his name to Celal Atik in honor of the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after this first title win. He wrestled in both styles, Greco-Roman and freestyle. In 1939 he represented his country for the first time at an international championship, the European championships in Oslo in the Greco-Roman style welterweight. As an internationally inexperienced wrestler, he still had to pay the hard way there and won none of the fights he had to contest. In 1940 he won a silver medal at the Balkan Games in Istanbul in the same style and in the same weight class. During the Second World War, like so many other athletes, he had to forego international championships in his prime.

After the war ended, he took part in the first European championship in Stockholm in 1946, which was held again after 1945. In free style he won the lightweight title there and defeated u. a. also Gösta Jönsson-Frändfors from Sweden. At the European Championships in Prague in 1947 in the Greco-Roman style, he won a bronze medal in the lightweight. He lost there against Armenak Yaltyrjan from the Soviet Union. The title went to Gösta Jönsson-Frändfors , who defeated Jaltyrjan.

Celal Atik celebrated the greatest success of his career at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. He won the gold medal there in the free style in the lightweight. In the decisive fights he defeated Garibaldo Nizzola from Italy and Gösta Jönsson-Frändfors.

In 1949 Celal Atik was also European champion in free style welterweight in Istanbul. Here he won the decisive fights over Per Berlin from Sweden and Ali Gaffari from Iran.

From 1950, instead of European championships, world championships were held again. The 1950 World Cup took place in Stockholm in the Greco-Roman style. Celal Atik fought very well in this style in the welterweight division, but missed winning the title by losing to Matti Siimanainen from Finland . In October 1950, the German national wrestling team stayed in Turkey for three international matches. In one of these international matches, Celal Atik won in Istanbul in front of 7,000 (!) Spectators over Heinrich Nettesheim on points.

In 1951 the Free Style World Championship was held in Helsinki. Celal Atik was welterweight world champion. He won the decisive fights against Heinrich Nettesheim and Aleksanteri Keisala , Finland.

Although the Olympic Games were due in 1952, Celal Atik ended his career as an active player after winning this title after differences with the Turkish Wrestling Association. After settling these differences, he was from 1955 to 1971 a very successful coach in the Turkish Wrestling Association. He also held the position of head coach for many years.

International success

year	space	competition	style	Weight class	Results
1939	6th	EM in Oslo	GR	Welter	after defeats to Sørensen, Denmark , Eino Virtanen , Finland and Edgar Puusepp , Estonia
1940	2.	Balkan Games in Istanbul	GR	Welter
1946	1.	EM in Stockholm	F.	Light	with victories over Kangas, Finland, Gösta Jönsson-Frändfors , Sweden , Jérôme Riske, Belgium and despite a loss to Hermann Baumann , Switzerland
1947	3.	EM in Prague	GR	Light	after victories over Egil Solsvik, Norway , Josef Schwarz, Austria , Ladislaw Mihalík, Czechoslovakia and a defeat against Armenak Jaltyrjan , USSR
1948	gold	OS in London	F.	Light	after victories over William Koll, USA , Banta Singh, India , A. Ries, South Africa , Suo Leppänen, Finland, Garibaldo Nizzola, Italy and Gösta Jönsson-Frändfors
1949	1.	EM in Istanbul	F.	Welter	after victories over Hansen, Denmark, Mahmood Osman, Egypt , Per Berlin , Sweden and Ali Gaffari, Iran
1950	2.	World Cup in Stockholm	GR	Welter	after victories over Ladislaw Mihalík, Bela Cudzi, Yugoslavia , Luigi Rigamonti, Italy and a defeat against Matti Siimanainen , Finland
1951	1.	World Cup in Helsinki	F.	Welter	after victories over Abdullah Mojtabavi, Iran, Albino Vidali, Italy, Heinrich Nettesheim , Germany and Aleksanteri Keisala , Finland

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of FILA International Wrestling Championships , 1976

Web links

• Profile of Celal Atik at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Celal Atik in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait of Celal Atik (Turkish)