Vehbi Akdağ

Vehbi Akdağ (born January 1, 1949 in Tokat ; † June 23, 2020 there ) was a Turkish wrestler . He was a silver medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympics in free style featherweight.

Career

Vehbi Akdağ started wrestling as a teenager in Tokat and quickly developed into an excellent freestyle wrestler. In 1968 he was accepted into the Turkish national team and used in the free style featherweight at the Olympic Games in Mexico City. He won there over Hans-Jürgen Luczak from the GDR and Josef Engel from Czechoslovakia and fought against Elkan Tedejew from the Soviet Union and Nikolaos Karipidis from Greece . Because he had scored more than six missing points, he had to be eliminated, although he had not lost a fight. At the European Championships in Berlin in 1970 he was used in the lightweight. With three wins and one defeat against the Soviet athlete Nodar Hohaschwili he came in a good 4th place, while he was eliminated after the 3rd round at the World Championships in Edmonton and had to be satisfied with 9th place.

In 1972 Vehbi qualified for participation in the Olympic Games in Munich , but had trained in the featherweight division. A measure that should prove to be the right one, because Vehbi won the silver medal in this weight class in Munich. The Soviet athlete Zagalav Abdulbekow, who was outstanding in his weight class in Munich, was clearly defeated by Vehbi in the final battle.

Vehbi wrestled after Munich at the international featherweight championships and won bronze medals at the European championships in Lausanne in 1973 and at the world championships in Istanbul in 1974 . At the end of his international wrestling career, he came in 1978 in Sofia on an excellent 4th place.

Vehbi Akdağ also met German wrestlers several times at his international championships. Against Helmut Strumpf from Jena he won two fights and lost one and against Eduard Giray from Freiburg im Breisgau he won once and lost once.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = Freestyle, Fe = featherweight, Le = lightweight, at that time up to 62 kg or 68 kg body weight)

• 1968, 7th place , OS in Mexico City , F, Fe, with victories over Hans-Jürgen Luczak , GDR , and Josef Engel , Czechoslovakia, and a draw against Elkan Tedejew , USSR , and Nikolaos Karipidis , Greece ;
• 1970, 4th place , EM in Berlin , F, Le, with victories over Stefanos Ioannidis, Greece , Markku Hanski, Finland and József Rusznyak, Hungary , and one defeat against Nodar Kokaschwili , USSR ;
• 1970, 9th place , World Championships in Edmonton , F, Le, with a win over Chang Ho San, North Korea , and defeats to Tsedendambyn Natsagdordsch , Mongolia , and Bobby Douglas , USA ;
• 1972, silver medal , OS in Munich , F, Fe, with victories over Orlando Goncalves, Puerto Rico , Iwan Krastew , Bulgaria , Jorma Liimatainen, Finland , Patrick Bolder, Canada , Petre Coman, Romania , and Sab Pal Singh, India , and defeats against Kiyoshi Abe, Japan and Zagalav Abdulbekow , USSR;
• 1973, 3rd place , EM in Lausanne , F, Fe, with victories over Helmut Strumpf , GDR , Jorma Liimatainen, Tanner, Switzerland , and defeats against Iwan Jankow , Bulgaria, and Zagalav Abdulbekow;
• 1974, 3rd place , World Cup in Istanbul , F, Fe, with victories over Theodule Toulotte , France , Egon Beiler , Canada, Eduard Giray , FRG , and Godrat Poorkarimi, Iran , and defeats against Dsewegiin Oidow , Mongolia , and Doucho Zekow , Bulgaria;
• 1975, 6th place , EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , F, Fe, with victories over Manuel Roca, Spain , and Zdzislaw Stolarski, Poland , and defeats against Zagalav Abdulbekow and Helmut Strumpf;
• 1975, 10th place , World Championships in Minsk , F, Fe, after defeats against James Humphrey , USA, and Yang Jung Mo, North Korea;
• 1976, 11th place , OS in Montreal , F, Fe, with a win over Mohsen Farahvashi , Iran, and losses to Egon Beiler and Yang Jung Mo;
• 1978, 4th place , EM in Sofia , F, Fe, with victories over Radeusz Luczywo, Poland, Bernard Dalien, France, and Helmut Strumpf and defeats against Eduard Giray and Miho Dukow , Bulgaria

swell

• various issues of the specialist magazines "Athletik" from 1968 to 1975 and "Der Ringer" from 1976 to 1978,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976

Web links

• Vehbi Akdağ's profile at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Vehbi Akdağ in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Short portrait of Vehbi Akdağ (Turkish)