Ahmet Ayık (born March 31, 1938), is a former

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

World champion of

Karachay The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situated ...

origin and Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the Light heavyweight class (97 kg) and a sports executive. He won the silver medal at the

1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both: *The 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Ba ...

in Men's

Freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

and the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics.

Biography

He was born in 1938 in Eskiköy, a village of Doğanşar district in

Sivas Province Sivas Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey. It is largely located at the eastern part of the Central Anatolia region of Turkey; it is the second largest province in Turkey by territory. Its adjacent provinces are Yozgat to the west, Kayseri ...

in the eastern part of

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is bordered ...

as the sixth child of a poor family. Ahmet Ayık lost four of his siblings during the

1939 Erzincan earthquake The 1939 Erzincan earthquake struck eastern Turkey at with a moment magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (''Extreme''). It was the second most powerful earthquake recorded in Turkey, after the 1668 North Anatolia earthquake. ...

. He began wrestling as a youngster in the traditional Turkish Karakucak Güreşi. At age 13, he followed his brother to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, and joined first Şişli Youth Club and later Beşiktaş JK for sports wrestling. After winning the title of Turkish champion, he was admitted to the national team in 1962, 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 194 ...

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 Bayram Şit. Besides his medals at two Olympic Games, Ahmet Ayık became two times

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, two times European champion and won several titles at various international competitions. Ahmet Ayık defeated the legendary wrestlers like

Gholamreza Takhti Gholamreza Takhti ( fa, غلامرضا تختی, August 27, 1930 – January 7, 1968) was an Iranian Olympic Gold-Medalist wrestler and Varzesh-e Bastani (''Persian Traditional Sport'') practitioner.Houchang E. Chehabi, �TAḴTI, Ḡolām-Re ...

from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Alexander Medved Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Medved (born 16 September 1937) is a Ukrainian-born Soviet Belarusian retired freestyle wrestler who competed for the Soviet Union and was named "one of the greatest wrestlers in history" by FILA, the sport's governing bod ...

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. He is also first and one of only two people to ever defeat Soviet wrestler

Ivan Yarygin Ivan Sergeyevich Yarygin ( rus, Иван Сергеевич Ярыгин, p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ jɪˈrɨɡʲɪn; 7 November 1948 – 11 October 1997) was a Soviet and Russian heavyweight freestyle wrestler. Between 1970 and 1980 he ...

at an international competition.https://spor.haber7.com/spor/haber/785834-medvedi-ahmet-ayik-efsane-yapti He retired from the active sports after his second title of European champion in 1970. In 1980, Ahmet Ayık co-founded the Turkish Wrestling Foundation and became 1993 the chairman of this organization. Between 1996 and 2000, he served as the president of the Turkish Wrestling Federation. He is also a member of the board of

International Wrestling Federation The International Wrestling Federation (IWF, also known as Killer Kowalski's All-Stars) was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the New England area of the United States from 1979 to 1996, when it was run by Killer Kowalski. Th ...

(FILA) since 1998. Ahmet Ayık has been married since 1958 and has three children.

Achievements

* 1962 Adriatic Cup in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

– silver (87 kg) * 1963

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

– gold (97 kg) * 1964 Balkan Championships in Constanţa,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

– gold (87 kg) * 1964

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

– silver (97 kg) * 1965 International Tournament in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

– gold (97 kg) * 1965 World Championships in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

– gold (97 kg) * 1966 World Championships in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

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– silver (97 kg) * 1966 European Championships in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

– silver (97 kg) * 1967 European Championships in

, Turkey – gold (97 kg) * 1967 World Championships in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

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– gold (97 kg) * 1968

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

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– gold (97 kg) * 1970 European Championships in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

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– gold (100 kg)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayik, Ahmet 1938 births Living people People from Doğanşar Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Turkish male sport wrestlers Olympic silver medalists for Turkey 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 1963 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Champions World Wrestling Championships medalists World Wrestling Champions 20th-century Turkish people 21st-century Turkish people