Kazım Ayvaz (March 10, 1938 – January 18, 2020) was a Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the lightweight class and a trainer. He won the gold medal in Men's

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (Euro-English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been i ...

at the 1964 Olympics and became world champion twice.

Career

He was born 1938 in Rize, north-eastern Turkey. He began wrestling 1953 at his age of 15 in the "İstanbul Güreş İhtisas Kulübü", a club in

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

specialized in wrestling. He won the gold medal at the 1958 World Wrestling Championships in

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in 73 kg. Greco-Roman wrestling, ahead of silver medalist Grigory Gamarnik of the USSR and bronze medalist Valeriu Bularca of Romania. Representing his country in Greco-Roman style wrestling, he participated at three consecutive Olympics in 1960,

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, however was successful only in

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. From 1964 on, Kazım Ayvaz could not repeat his victorious matches. He retired from the active sports in 1969 and served from then on as a trainer in Sweden, where he emigrated after the 1968 Olympics. Ayvaz lived in Sweden until his death on 18 January 2020.

Achievements

* 1957 Adriatic Cup in

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Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

– bronze (Greco-Roman Welterweight) * 1958 World Wrestling Championships in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

– gold (Greco-Roman Welterweight) * 1959 Balkan Wrestling Championships in

, Turkey – gold (Greco-Roman 73 kg) * 1960 Balkan Wrestling Championships in

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Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

– silver (Freestyle 73 kg) * 1960

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– 4th (Greco-Roman Middleweight) * 1962 World Wrestling Championships in

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– gold (Greco-Roman Lightweight) * 1963 World Wrestling Championships in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

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– 17th (Greco-Roman Lightweight) * 1964

in Tokyo,

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– gold (Greco-Roman Lightweight) * 1964 Balkan Wrestling Championships in Constanţa,

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

– silver (Greco-Roman Lightweight) * 1966 European Wrestling Championships in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

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– 4th (Greco-Roman Lightweight) * 1966, World Wrestling Championships in

– 6th (Greco-Roman Lightweight) * 1968

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– 24th, injured (Greco-Roman Lightweight)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayvaz, Kazim 1938 births 2020 deaths Sportspeople from Rize Turkish male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Turkey Olympic gold medalists for Turkey Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists World Wrestling Champions 20th-century Turkish sportsmen