Müzahir Sille

Müzahir Sille medal table
Wrestler
Turkey
Olympic games
gold	1960 Rome	feather
World championships
silver	1955 Karlsruhe	feather
silver	1958 Budapest	feather

Müzahir Sille (born September 21, 1931 in Istanbul , † May 17, 2016 ) was a Turkish wrestler . He became a featherweight Olympic champion in the Greco-Roman style in 1960 .

Career

Müzahir Sille started wrestling in Istanbul in 1949. He started for an Istanbul wrestling club and preferred the Greco-Roman style. His coaches were Ragip Hoca, Hüseyin Erkmet, Adnan Yurdaer and Halil Yüceses. In 1955 he had reached the top Turkish class in his weight class. In March 1955 he passed his first international test when he won a shoulder victory over Gunnar Hakansson in Istanbul in an international match between Turkey and Sweden . In the internal Turkish elimination for a starting place at the 1955 World Championships in Karlsruhe, he prevailed against Riza Dogan .

At the 1955 World Championships in Karlsruhe , Müzahir Sille defeated featherweight Gunnar Hakansson and Bela Torma from Yugoslavia , then surprisingly lost to the Belgian Joseph Mewis and had a bye in the 4th round, which he owed to the final in which he lost to Imre Polyák from Hungary . He became vice world champion.

In 1956, Müzahir Sille competed at the Olympic Games in Melbourne. Wrestling again in featherweight, he was shoulder winner in his first fight over R. Dsneladze from the Soviet Union and came in the second round to a shoulder victory over T. Ickeringill from Australia . He then lost to Gunnar Hakansson on points and was shouldered by Imre Polyak. With a 4th place he just missed the medal ranks.

At the 1958 World Championships , which took place in Budapest , Müzahir Sille was in very good shape. He defeated the featherweight Kjell Johansson, Sweden, Franz Schmitt , West Germany, Micula, Romania, Ahokas, Finland, Golosin, Yugoslavia and Vladimir Stashkewitsch from the Soviet Union. In the final he met Imre Polyak again, to whom he lost on the shoulder. He became vice world champion again.

At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Müzahir Sille achieved the greatest success of his wrestling career. He defeated in Rome in the featherweight Gottlieb Neumair , West Germany, Macioch, Poland, Lars Freij, Sweden and M. Mansour, Egypt. In the 5th round he suffered a surprising defeat against the German-born Romanian Mihai Schultz. In the next round, in which Schultz was eliminated, Müzahir Sille had bye and got into the final, in which he again faced Imre Polyak, against whom he was able to celebrate a narrow point win this time and thus became Olympic champion .

In 1961, Müzahir Sille went to Germany with Mithat Bayrak , another Turkish Olympic champion, and competed for KSV Witten 07 .

In 1964 he qualified again in Turkey for participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In Tokyo he was eliminated in featherweight after a draw against Skrydstrup, Denmark and a shoulder defeat against Roman Rurua , Soviet Union, already after the 2nd round and only came in 20th place.

In 1986 Müzahir Sille returned to Turkey.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1955	2.	World Cup in Karlsruhe	feather	after defeating Gunnar Hakansson, Sweden and Bela Torma, Yugoslavia, a shoulder defeat against Joseph Mewis, Belgium and a point defeat against Imre Polyák , Hungary
1956	4th	OS in Melbourne	feather	after shoulder wins over R. Dsneladze, USSR and T. Ickeringill, Australia, a point defeat against Gunnar Hakansson and a shoulder defeat against Imre Polyak
1958	2.	World Cup in Budapest	feather	after victories over Kjell Johansson, Sweden, Franz Schmitt, Federal Republic of Germany, Micula, Poland, Ahokas, Finland, Golosin, Yugoslavia and Vladimir Staschkewitsch , USSR and a defeat against Imre Polyak
1959	1.	Balkan Championship in Istanbul	feather
1960	gold	OS in Rome	feather	after victories over Gottlieb Neumair, Federal Republic of Germany, Macioch, Poland, Lars Freij, Sweden and M. Mansour, Egypt, a defeat against Mihai Schultz, Romania and a victory over Imre Polyak
1964	20th	OS in Tokyo	feather	after a draw against Skrydstrup, Denmark and a loss against Roman Rurua , USSR

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• Featherweight, then weight class up to 62 kg body weight
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championships

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships 1896 to 1976; Published by: FILA, Federation Internationale de Lutte Amateur, 1976

Web links

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