Yaşar Erkan
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling | ||
Representing Turkey | ||
Olympic Games
| ||
1936 Berlin | 61 kg | |
Balkan Championships | ||
1933 Istanbul | 61 kg | |
1934 Istanbul | 61 kg | |
1935 Istanbul | 61 kg | |
1937 İzmir | 61 kg |
Yaşar Erkan (30 April 1911 in Erzincan – 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.
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. In 1933, he was admitted to the national team and won the Balkan Championship the same year. Yaşar Erkan repeated his title wins in the following two years 1934 and 1935. In 1936, he became the first ever Turkish sportsman to win a gold medal at the Olympics. Before retiring in 1940, he won the Balkan Championship once again in 1937 in İzmir.
References[]
- Olympics Database
- Who is who (in Turkish)
- Wrestling (in Turkish)
Categories:
- 1911 births
- 1986 deaths
- People from Erzincan
- Olympic wrestlers of Turkey
- Wrestlers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Turkish male sport wrestlers
- Olympic gold medalists for Turkey
- Olympic medalists in wrestling
- Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Turkish sport wrestler stubs
- Turkish Olympic medalist stubs