Gökhan Yavaşer (born January 1, 1978, in Sivas) is a retired amateur Turkish freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's light heavyweight category. He produced a remarkable tally of four career medals, including a bronze in the 84-kg division at the

2005 Summer Universiade The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey, in August. Emblem The emblem is the letter “U”, inspired by the bird's-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir. This shape has perfectly fit the lett ...

in İzmir, and also represented his nation Turkey at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, finishing fifteenth in the process. Throughout his sporting career, Yavaser trained full-time as a member of the wrestling squad for Gebze Belediyesi SC İzmit, under his personal coach and mentor Turan Ceylan. Yavaser emerged himself into a sporting fame at the 2004 European Championships in Ankara, where he ousted his Georgian rival Revaz Mindorashvili in the final match 3–2, and ran off the mat for the gold medal in front of the home crowd. Four months later, Yavaser qualified for the Turkish squad in the men's 84 kg class at the

in Athens. Earlier in the process, he placed seventh from the

2003 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2003 World Wrestling Championships. The Freestyle Competition was held in New York City, United States, while the Greco-Roman Competition was held in Créteil, France. Medal table Team ranking Medal su ...

in New York City, New York, United States to earn a spot on the Turkish wrestling team to the Games. Yavaser lost his opening match 6–0 to Ukraine's Taras Danko, but soared smoothly with an easy victory over Armenia's

Mamed Aghaev Mamed Aghaev (born 26 May 1976) is a retired Russian-born freestyle wrestler of Chechen descent. He switched to the Armenian national wrestling team in 1999. Aghaev began wrestling in 1987 and was part of the Ajastam Armenia club in Vanadzor. He ...

, who was immediately disqualified for infringing the rules of the tournament. Placing second in the pool and fifteenth overall, Yavaser failed to advance to the quarterfinals. At the

in İzmir, Yavaser enchanted the home audience inside the hall, as he turned down South Korea's An Jae-Man on the ring for the bronze medal with an astounding 3–2 score. The following year, Yavaser continued his medal streak with a silver in the same class at the European Championships in Moscow, before taking off his two-year break from wrestling to focus on personal commitments. In 2009, Yavaser came out of retirement to pick up a bronze medal over Poland's Radosław Marcinkiewicz in the 84-kg class at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional ur ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yavaser, Gokhan 1978 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Turkey Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Sivas Turkish male sport wrestlers Universiade medalists in wrestling Universiade bronze medalists for Turkey European Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade 20th-century Turkish people 21st-century Turkish people