Soner Demirtaş (born 25 June 1991) is a Turkish freestyle wrestler who competes in the 74 kg division. He won the European title in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He was bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics. He is a member of the Ankara ASKI.

Personal life

Soner Demirtaş was born to a butcher father as the third son of five in Çat village of

Tokat Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155,00 ...

on 25 June 1991. He is a student of physical education and sports at

Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University ( tr, Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey Üniversitesi) is a public university in Karaman. History Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University (KMU) is one of new seventeen universities which were established in 2007 by the Turkish ...

Karaman Karaman, historically known as Laranda (Greek: Λάρανδα), is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According t ...

. His three brothers are also sport wrestlers. He was inspired to take up wrestling by his eldest brother Bekir Demirtaş.

Sports career

Demirtaş internationally debuted at the Freestyle Wrestling – Junior World Championships 2010 held in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary, where he captured the silver medal. He took part at the

2012 European Wrestling Championships The 2012 European Wrestling Championships were held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 8 March to 11 March 2012.https://web.archive.org/web/20120311105538/http://www.fila-official.com/sites/ultimate2/index.php Medal table Team ranking Medal summary ...

in Belgrade, Serbia. He participated at the 2013 European Championships in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Georgia. He won the gold medal at the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games ( tr, 2013 Akdeniz Oyunları), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games ( tr, XVII Akdeniz Oyunları) and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 i ...

in Mersin, Turkey. He lost to Belarusian

Ali Shabanau Ali Shabanau (, born 25 August 1989 in Dagestan), also known as Ali Shabanov, is a Russian-born Avar freestyle wrestler who represents Belarus that competed at the 2012 Olympics at 66 kg. 2012 Olympics Shabanau won his first match (round o ...

in the round of 16 at the 2013 World Championships in

, Hungary. He won the bronze medal at the 2014 European Championships in

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa is the fourth most populated city in Finland ...

, Finland. Demirtaş lost to Jumber Kvelashvili of Georgia in the round of 32 at the 2014 World Championships in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

, Uzbekistan. He became silver medalist at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. He lost to Narsingh Pancham Yadav from India in the round of 16 at the 2015 World Championships in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, United States. Demirtaş became a second time European champion in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, Serbia. In March 2021, he competed at the European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary hoping to qualify for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in Tokyo, Japan. In 2022, he won the gold medal in his event at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey. He competed in the 74kg event at the

2022 World Wrestling Championships The 2022 World Wrestling Championships was the 17th edition of the World Wrestling Championships of combined events and was held between 10 and 18 September 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. The UWW Bureau approved the candidature of Belgrade, Serbia ...

held in Belgrade, Serbia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Demirtas, Soner 1991 births Sportspeople from Tokat Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University alumni Turkish male sport wrestlers Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor athletes Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games European champions for Turkey Living people European Games silver medalists for Turkey Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic wrestlers of Turkey Olympic bronze medalists for Turkey Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Competitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2019 European Games European Games medalists in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Championships medalists Islamic Solidarity Games medalists in wrestling Islamic Solidarity Games competitors for Turkey 20th-century Turkish people 21st-century Turkish people