Mahmut Atalay (30 March 1934 – 4 December 2004) was a Turkish freestyle wrestler and coach. He competed at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won a gold medal in 1968, placing fourth in 1964.

Early life and wrestling career

He was born in 1934 in Çorak, a village of

Çorum Province Çorum ( tr, ) is a province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, but lying inland and having more characteristics of Central Anatolia than the Black Sea coast. Its provincial capital is the city of Çorum, the traffic code is 19. History Excav ...

in northern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He began wrestling in the traditional Turkish

karakucak Karakucak or Karakucak Güreşi is one of the two Turkish folk wrestling styles practised nationwide and sanctioned by the Turkish Wrestling Federation. Like all other Turkish folk wrestling styles, karakucak competitions are held on grass fields. ...

style before changing to freestyle wrestling. It was not until the age of 18 that he began Olympic wrestling in 1952. It took him a relatively long time to grow into the Turkish top class of freestyle wrestlers. It was not until the late 1950s, at the age of 25, that he was selected for the Turkish national wrestling team. He was admitted to the national team after winning the national title in 1959, and received training by the renowned wrestlers such as

Yaşar Doğu Yaşar Doğu (1913 – 8 January 1961) was a renowned Turkish Wrestler, World and Olympic champion in Greco-Roman and Freestyle of Circassian descent. Biography He was born in the village Karlı of Kavak district in Samsun province to a fam ...

Celal Atik Celal Atik (1918 – 27 April 1979) was a Turkish wrestler and coach. He competed both in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, but had his best achievements in the freestyle, winning gold medals at the 1948 Olympics, 1951 World and 1946 and 1949 ...

and

Nasuh Akar Nasuh Akar (10 May 1925 – 18 May 1984) was a Turkish sports wrestler, who won the gold medal in the Bantamweight class of Men's Freestyle category at the 1948 Olympics. Wrestling career He was born in the village Yiğitler of Boğazlıyan di ...

and Halit Balamir. After the 1960 Olympic champion İsmail Ogan, who wrestled in Mahmut's weight class, ended his active career, the way was clear for him to compete in the international championships. From 1961, he competed for Turkey in many championships until 1968. However, it took until 1965 before he could win an international medal. Since Turkish wrestlers are among the strongest in the world in the freestyle along with the Soviet athletes and the U.S., it is surprising that Mahmut Atalay was given so many chances by the Turkish wrestling federation. In the end, 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 Sagaradze and Sarbeg Beriashvili, both USSR and Enju Valchev Dimov, Bulgaria.

Awards and achievements

He became the national champion 15 times, and besides his Olympic gold won several medals at other international competitions. In 1968, he was honored by the International Wrestling Federation with the award "Most Technical Wrestler of the World".

Later life and death

He retired from competitions in 1968 and then worked as a national wrestling coach for 16 years. Atalay died on 4 December 2004 in Ankara following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atalay, Mahmut 1934 births 2004 deaths People from Çorum Turkish people of Dagestani descent Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Turkish male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for Turkey Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Competitors at the 1959 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1963 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists World Wrestling Championships medalists Turkish people of Circassian descent