Mahmut Atalay

Mahmut Atalay (born March 30, 1934 in Çorum , † December 4, 2004 in Ankara ) was a Turkish wrestler . He was an Olympic champion in 1968.

Life

Mahmut Atalay grew up in Çorum in Asia Minor . As a teenager he worked, like most of the Turkish world class wrestlers , in oil wrestling . It was only at the age of 18 that he began Olympic wrestling in 1952. It took him a relatively long time to grow into the top class of Turkish freestyle wrestlers . It was not until the late 1950s that he was accepted into the Turkish national wrestling team at the age of 25.

In the national team he had some very well-known and good coaches such as Adil Candemir , Celal Atik , Nasuh Akar and Halit Balamir during his career . After the 1960 Olympic champion İsmail Ogan , who wrestled in Mahmut’s weight class, ended his active career, the way was clear for him for the international championships. From 1961 he started for Turkey until 1968 in many championships. However, it was not until 1965 before he could win an international medal. Since the Turkish wrestlers in free style, along with the Soviet athletes and the Americans, are among the strongest in the world, it is surprising that Mahmut Atalay from the Turkish Wrestling Association received so many chances. Ultimately, he justified this trust when he became world champion in 1966 and Olympic champion in 1968 . He achieved remarkable victories over the world class wrestlers Abdollah Movahed , Iran , Guliko Sagaradse and Sarbeg Beriaschwili , both from the USSR and Enju Waltschew Dimow , Bulgaria .

The former state employee lived in Ankara since ending his active wrestling career . There he died on December 4, 2004 of complications from a heart attack.

International success

Legend: OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = Freestyle, Le = lightweight (then up to 70 kg body weight), We = welter weight (then up to 73 kg or 78 kg body weight)

• 1959, 1st place , Mediterranean Games in Beirut , F, W;
• 1961, 8th place , World Cup in Yokohama , F, We, after a draw against Günther Maritschnigg , FRG and a defeat against Robert Clark, Australia ;
• 1962, 9th place , World Cup in Toledo / USA , F, Le, with victory over Jan Kuczyński, Poland , a draw against Kazuo Abe, Japan and a defeat against Mohammad-Ali Sanatkaran, Iran ;
• 1963, 4th place , World Cup in Sofia , F, Le, with victories over Adolf Franke, GDR , Joseph Mewis, Belgium , Gregory Ruth , USA and Abdollah Movahed , Iran and one defeat against Sarbeg Beriaschwili , USSR ;
• 1964, 4th place , OS in Tokyo , F, Le, with victories over Sarbeg Beriaschwili, Stefanos Ioannidis, Greece , Muhamad Bashir, Pakistan , Carlos Verio, Argentina and one defeat against Iwao Horiuchi, Japan;
• 1965, 2nd place , World Championship in Manchester , F, Le, with victories over D. Gleeson, Ireland , Udey Chand, India , Dandsandardschaagiin Sereeter , Mongolia, Enju Waltschew Dimow , Bulgaria , a draw against Sarbeg Beriaschwili and a defeat against Movahed;
• 1966, 2nd place , EM in Karlsruhe , F, We, with victories over Ion Popescu, Romania , Roland Gachoud, Switzerland , Kurt Elmgren, Sweden , Károly Bajkó , Hungary, Gaetano De Vescovi, Italy and a draw against Juri Schachmuradow , USSR ;
• 1966, 1st place , World Championship in Toledo / USA, F, We, with victories over Ruran Aladzhikow, Bulgaria, Jésus Blanco, Argentina, Chorloogiin Bajanmönch , Mongolia and Guliko Sagaradse , USSR;
• 1967, 1st place , Balkan Games in Yanbolu, F, We;
• 1967, 2nd place , EM in Istanbul , F, We, with victories over Martin Heinze , GDR, Jummy Martinetti, Switzerland, Bajko, Aladzhikow and a draw against Yuri Schachmuradow;
• 1967, 4th place , World Cup in New Delhi , F, We, with victories over Tatsuo Sasaki, Japan, Klaus Kasel, GDR, Pürewiin Dagwasüren , Mongolia, Ghadeer Yaghoubi, Iran and one defeat against Sagaradze;
• 1968, gold medal , OS in Mexico City , F, We, with victories over Osvaldo Ferrari, Italy, Steven Combs, USA, Suk Young-Suk, North Korea , Daniel Robin , France , Ali-Mohammed Momeni, Iran and a draw against Pürewiin Dagwasuren

swell

• Athletics magazine from 1959 to 1968
• Website "www.iat.uni-leipzig.de"

Web links

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