Yaşar Erkan
![]() Erkan at the 1936 Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | (1911-04-30)30 April 1911 Erzincan, Ottoman Empire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 18 May 1986(1986-05-18) (aged 75) Istanbul, Turkey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 62 kg (137 lb; 9.8 st) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Wrestling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Freestyle Greco-Roman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Yaşar Erkan (30 April 1911 – 18 May 1986) was a Turkish sports wrestler, who won the first ever Olympic gold medal for Turkey in the Featherweight class of Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling. Yaşar Erkan is the first Olympic champion in Turkish history.[1]
Wrestling career
Son of a wrestler for yağlı güreş (oil wrestling), he moved with his family from their village İspidi in the Refahiye district of Erzincan Province to Istanbul at 4 years of age. He started wrestling at Kumkapı Wrestling Club and grew up here. His father Ali Efendi was also one of the famous wrestlers of their village. Yaşar Erkan was selected to the Turkish National Wrestling Team in 1933 and won the Balkan Championship in the same year. He also held this title in 1934 and 1935. In 1936, he became the first ever Turkish sportsman to win a gold medal at the Olympics.[2]
"You are small, but you have done an important job for the country. Now your name has gone down in Turkish sports history. Long live Yaşar!". The telegram is from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Later, Erkan was presented with a house by Atatürk, and the athlete's surname "Naçar", meaning helpless, was changed by Atatürk to "Erkan", meaning a prominent member of a community. Yaşar Erkan was also a tailor.[3]
Erkan died on 18 May 1986. His grave is in Merkezefendi Cemetery in Zeytinburnu.[4]
References
- ^ "International Wrestling Database".
- ^ "Yaşar Erkan Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". www.sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016.
- ^ "İlk altın adamımız: Yaşar Erkan | Kemal Ateş | Aydınlık". www.aydinlik.com.tr. Archived from the original on 6 May 2022.
- ^ "Yaşar Erkan". www.biyografya.com.
External links
- Yaşar Erkan at the International Wrestling Database
- Yaşar Erkan at Olympedia
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![Turkey](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg/23px-Flag_of_Turkey.svg.png)
![Gold](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Gold_medal.svg/16px-Gold_medal.svg.png)
- Yaşar Erkan
- Nasuh Akar
- Gazanfer Bilge
- Celal Atik
- Yaşar Doğu
- Ahmet Kireççi
- Mehmet Oktav
- Hasan Gemici
- Bayram Şit
- Mithat Bayrak (2 titles)
- Mustafa Dağıstanlı (2 titles)
- Hamit Kaplan
- Müzahir Sille
- Tevfik Kış
- Ahmet Bilek
- Hasan Güngör
- İsmet Atlı
- Kazım Ayvaz
- İsmail Ogan
- Mahmut Atalay
- Ahmet Ayık
- Naim Süleymanoğlu (3 titles)
- Halil Mutlu (3 titles)
- Akif Pirim
- Hamza Yerlikaya (2 titles)
- Mahmut Demir
- Hüseyin Özkan
- Nurcan Taylan
- Taner Sağır
- Ramazan Şahin
- Servet Tazegül
- Taha Akgül
- Mete Gazoz
- Busenaz Sürmeneli
![Silver](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Silver_medal.svg/16px-Silver_medal.svg.png)
- Halit Balamir
- Adil Candemir
- Kenan Olcay
- Muhlis Tayfur
- Rıza Doğan
- İbrahim Zengin
- İsmail Ogan
- Hamit Kaplan
- Hüseyin Akbaş
- Hasan Güngör
- Ahmet Ayık
- Vehbi Akdağ
- Necmi Gençalp
- Hakkı Başar
- Kenan Şimşek
- Malik Beyleroğlu
- Şeref Eroğlu
- Bahri Tanrıkulu
- Atagün Yalçınkaya
- Azize Tanrıkulu
- Nur Tatar
- Daniyar Ismayilov
- Rıza Kayaalp
- Selim Yaşar
- Buse Naz Çakıroğlu (2 titles)
- Eray Şamdan
- Şevval İlayda Tarhan
- Yusuf Dikeç
- Hatice Akbaş
![Bronze](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Bronze_medal.svg/16px-Bronze_medal.svg.png)
- Ahmet Kireççi
- Halil Kaya
- Ruhi Sarıalp
- Adil Atan
- Dursun Ali Eğribaş
- Hüseyin Akbaş
- Hamit Kaplan
- Eyüp Can
- Turgut Aykaç
- Ayhan Taşkın
- Ali Kayalı
- Akif Pirim
- Hamide Bıkçın
- Adem Bereket
- Sedat Artuç
- Reyhan Arabacıoğlu
- Mehmet Özal
- Aydın Polatçı
- Yakup Kılıç
- Servet Tazegül
- Nazmi Avluca
- Rıza Kayaalp (2 titles)
- Yasmani Copello
- Cenk İldem
- Soner Demirtaş
- Nur Tatar
- Hakan Reçber
- Hatice Kübra İlgün
- Yasemin Adar
- Ferhat Arıcan
- Taha Akgül (2 titles)
- Ali Sofuoğlu
- Merve Çoban
- Uğur Aktaş
- Abdullah Yıldırmış
- Mete Gazoz
- Ulaş Tümer
- Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu
- Esra Yıldız
- Nafia Kuş