Turkey won the most medals in the history of the Olympic Games in wrestling.
Wrestling was included in this section of the file news prepared by A’s news agency on the branches in which Turkish athletes won medals in the Olympics before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Turkey has 104 medals in the Olympics, including 41 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze. National wrestlers, who won 66 of these 104 medals, became Turkey’s “medal storehouse” in the Olympics.
National wrestlers succeeded in winning 29 gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze medals in the Olympics.
“First” Olympic medals
National wrestlers Yaşar Erkan and Ahmet Kireççi won Turkey’s first medals at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games.
Winning the championship in Berlin 1936, Yaşar Erkan went down in history as the athlete who brought Turkey its first gold medal in the Olympics. Ahmet Kireççi, who won the bronze medal in the same Olympics, also wrote his name among the “firsts”.
Double championship from three national wrestlers
In the Olympics, 3 national wrestlers won the Olympic championship twice each.
Mustafa Dağıstanlı and Mithat Bayrak won gold medals in 1956 and 1960, and Hamza Yerlikaya won gold medals in 1996 and 2000.
Wrestlers with three Olympic medals
Hamit Kaplan and Rıza Kayaalp have three Olympic medals each in wrestling.
Hamit Kaplan, who became champion in Melbourne 1956, won silver in Rome 1960 and bronze in Tokyo 1964.
Rıza Kayaalp, who will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, returned from Rio 2016 with a silver medal, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 with a bronze medal.
Rıza, who will participate in the Olympics for the 5th time, will try to reach the Olympic championship, the only thing missing in his career, in Paris.
Yasemin made history in Tokyo
Yasemin Adar Yiğit, who came third in Tokyo 2020, became the first Turkish female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics.
In Paris 2024, Turkey’s most important medal hopes in wrestling will be Yasemin, Rıza and Taha Akgül, who won the championship in Rio 2016.
Most successful Olympics
National wrestlers won the most medals in the history of the Games in London 1948. The Turkish national wrestlers left England with 11 medals, 6 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze.
The national team won the most gold medals in Rome 1960. The national wrestlers won 7 gold medals and 2 silver medals in the organization where Turkey produced the most champions.
The national wrestlers who won medals in the history of the Olympic Games are as follows:
Berlin 1936 (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Gold Yasar Erkan
Bronze Ahmet Kireççi
London 1948 (6 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)
Gold: Celal Atik, Gazanfer Bilge, Mehmet Oktav, Ahmet Kireççi, Nasuh Akar, Yaşar Doğu
Gümüş: Adil Candemir, Halit Balamir, Kenan Olcay, Muhlis Tayfur
Bronze Halil Kaya
Helsinki 1952 (2 gold, 1 bronze)
Gold Bayram Sit, Hasan Gemici
Bronze Adil Atan
Melbourne 1956 (3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
Gold Hamit Kaplan, Mithat Bayrak, Mustafa Dagestanli
Silver: İbrahim Zengin, Rıza Doğan
Bronze Dursun Ali Eğribaş, Hüseyin Akbaş
Rome 1960 (7 gold, 2 silver)
Golden: Ahmet Bilek, Hasan Güngör, İsmet Atlı, Mithat Bayrak, Mustafa Dağıstanlı, Müzahir Sille, Tevfik Kış
Silver Hamit Kaplan, Ismail Ogan
Tokyo 1964 (2 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)
Gold Ismail Ogan, Kazim Ayvaz
Gümüş: Ahmet Ayık, Hasan Güngör, Hüseyin Akbaş
Bronze Hamit Kaplan
Mexico City 1968 (2 gold)
Gold Ahmet Ayik, Mahmut Atalay
Munich 1972 (1 silver)
Silver Vehbi Akdag
Los Angeles 1984 (1 bronze)
Bronze Ayhan Taskin
Seoul 1988 (1 silver)
Silver Necmi Gençalp
Barcelona 1992 (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
Gold Mehmet Akif Pirim
Silver Hakkı Basar, Kenan Simsek
Bronze Ali Kayali
Atlanta 1996 (2 gold, 1 bronze)
Gold Hamza Yerlikaya, Mahmut Demir
Bronze Mehmet Akif Pirim
Sydney 2000 (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Gold Hamza Yerlikaya
Bronze Adem Bereket
Athens 2004 (1 silver, 2 bronze)
Silver Seref Eroglu
Bronze Aydin Polatci, Mehmet Ozal
Beijing 2008 (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Gold Ramazan Sahin
Bronze Nazmi Avluca
London 2012 (1 bronze)
Bronze Rıza Kayaalp
Rio 2016 (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
Gold Taha Akgul
Silver: Rıza Kayaalp, Selim Yaşar
Bronze: Cenk Ildem, Soner Demirtas
Tokyo 2020 (3 bronze)
Bronze: Rıza Kayaalp, Taha Akgül, Yasemin Adar Yiğit
