Gökhan Yavaşer (born 1 January 1978 in

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

) 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 letter ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, and also represented his nation

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, 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 Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, where he ousted his Georgian rival

Revaz Mindorashvili Revaz Mindorashvili ( ka, რევაზ მინდორაშვილი, born July 1, 1976) is a Georgian wrestler, who has won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Gam ...

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

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. 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, New York (state), New York, while the Greco-Roman Competition was held in Créteil, France. Medal table Team ranki ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

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to earn a spot on the Turkish wrestling team to the Games. Yavaser lost his opening match 6–0 to Ukraine's

Taras Danko Taras Hryhoriyovych Danko (Тарас Григорійович Данько; born July 3, 1980, in Kiev, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian wrestler, who has won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics ...

, but soared smoothly with an easy victory over Armenia's Mamed Aghaev, 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

, 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 Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, 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 A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

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 Summer World University Games medalists in wrestling FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Turkey European Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade 20th-century Turkish sportsmen 21st-century Turkish sportsmen