Nasuh Akar (10 May 1925 – 18 May 1984) was a Turkish sports wrestler, who won the gold medal in the

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

class of Men's Freestyle category at the 1948 Olympics.

Wrestling career

He was born in the village Yiğitler of Boğazlıyan district of

Yozgat Province Yozgat Province () is a province in central Turkey. Its area is 13,690 km2, and its population is 418,442 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Çorum to the northwest, Kırıkkale to the west, Kırşehir to the southwest, Nevşehir to the s ...

. He attended primary school in his village. He completed his secondary and high school education at Eskişehir State Railways School. He started wrestling as a teenager and developed into an excellent freestyle wrestler. In 1946, he participated in the first international wrestling championship held after World War II, the European Free Style Championship in Stockholm. There, things were quite turbulent in the bantamweight division, in which Nasuh competed, as four wrestlers defeated each other. Nasuh Akar managed to beat the Finnish champion Erkki Johansson and the Hungarian champion Lajos Bencze, among others, while he lost on points to the two-time European vice-champion from 1938 and 1939 Kurt Pettersén from Sweden. In the final standings Bencze won ahead of Akar, Johansson and Pettersén. In 1948 Nasuh achieved the greatest success of his wrestling career. He became the Olympic bantamweight champion in London. This victory was achieved very confidently, because Nasuh scored four shoulder and two point victories. Following his gold medal win at the 1948 London Olympics, Nasuh Akar became European and World champion. Nasuh was also victorious at the 1949 European Championship, which took place in Istanbul. He won the four fights he had to fight without any problems. In the final fight he also managed to take revenge for the defeat of 1946 with a points victory over Kurt Pettersén. In 1950, Nasuh was part of a Turkish wrestling team that wrestled against the Federal Republic of Germany in Istanbul and won 8-0 over the Germans, who were allowed back on the international wrestling mat for the first time after a long absence and were overmatched. Nasuh Akar celebrated a shoulder victory over Manfred Spatz from Feudenheim. Finally, in 1951 Nasuh also won the world championship in Helsinki in the bantamweight. Three victories were enough for him to do so. After the 1951 World Championships, differences arose in Turkey between some wrestlers from the national team and the Turkish wrestling federation over allegedly false expense claims. In addition to Ali Yücel and Nurettin Zafer, Nasuh Akar was also affected. The Turkish wrestling federation declared these athletes to be professionals without further ado, which meant that they could not participate in the 1952 Olympic Games. In 1952, he retired from active wrestling and served then as trainer. Nasuh Akar was the first athlete to win a gold medal for Turkey in his weight class in freestyle wrestling. After his wrestling career, he worked as a coach and coached the Turkish National Team. He died on 18 May 1984. After his death, a neighborhood in Çankaya district of Ankara and a training facility in Eskişehir were named after him. His wife Ayşe Akar survived him. A training sports hall in

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

, opened in 1994, is named after Nasuh Akar.Governor of Eskişehir

Achievements

* 1946 European Championships in

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- silver (Bantamweight) * 1948

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London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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- gold (Bantamweight) * 1949 European Championships in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey - gold (Bantamweight) * 1951 World Championships in

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- gold (Bantamweight)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akar, Nasuh 1925 births 1984 deaths Wrestlers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Turkish male sport wrestlers Sportspeople from Yozgat Olympic wrestlers for Turkey Olympic gold medalists for Turkey People from Boğazlıyan Sportspeople from Yozgat Province Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists World Wrestling Champions 20th-century Turkish sportsmen European Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Champions