Celal Atik

Celal Atik

Medal record
Men's Freestyle Wrestling
Olympic Games
	1948 London	Lightweight
World Championships
	1951 Helsinki	73 kg
European Championships
	1946 Stockholm	67 kg
	1949 Istanbul	73 kg
Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling
World Championships
	1950 Stockholm	73 kg
European Championships
	1947 Prague	67 kg
Balkan Championships
	1940 Istanbul	72 kg

Celal Atik (b. 1918 - d. 27 April 1979) was a successful Turkish sports wrestler and trainer, who won the gold medal in the Lightweight class of Men's Freestyle Wrestling at the 1948 Olympics.

He was born in the village of Gürdan in the Boğazlıyan district of Yozgat Province, Turkey. He changed his family name from "Doğan" to "Atik" (literally, "Slippy") after a proposal by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, who noticed his speed at the Turkey Wrestling Championships in 1938.

In addition to winning an Olympic gold medal, Celal Atik was also World champion and European champion twice. After retiring from competition, he served from 1955 to 1979 as trainer of his country's national team and taught many wrestlers who later became champions. Appointed the head trainer by the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) in Switzerland, he gave lessons on wrestling techniques to sportspeople from all around the world.

He is recognized as Turkey's smartest wrestler, with exceptional technique as well as the most aesthetic physique. In addition to his other honors, he was awarded with the Légion d'honneur of France.

Celal Atik died on 27 April 1979 in a hospital in Ankara. Two sports halls—one in İzmir with a capacity of 1,200 people and another one in his hometown Yozgat—are named after him.

Achievements

Wrestler

• 1940 Balkan Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey - silver (Greco-Roman style 72 kg)
• 1946 European Wrestling Championships in Stockholm, Sweden - gold (Freestyle 67 kg)
• 1947 European Wrestling Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia - bronze (Greco-Roman style 67 kg)
• 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England - gold
• 1949 European Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey - gold (Freestyle 73 kg)
• 1950 World Wrestling Championships in Stockholm, Sweden - silver (Greco-Roman style 73 kg)
• 1951 World Wrestling Championships in Helsinki, Finland - gold (Freestyle 73 kg)

Trainer of the national team

• 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy - champion team
• 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan - 2 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze
• 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico - 2 gold
• 1955-1971 at all World Championships - various medals

References

• Olympics Database
• Who is who (Turkish)
• Biography (Turkish)

External links

• Story with images (Turkish)