Naim SÜLEYMANOĞLU

Naim Süleymanoglu (1967 - 2017)

Famous Turkish weightlifter Naim Süleymanoğlu was born on January 23, 1967 in the village of Ahatlı in the province of Kırcaali in Bulgaria. Considered the best weightlifter of all time by sports authorities, Naim Süleymanoğlu won his first world championship at the age of 15 by winning two gold medals at the World Junior Weightlifting Championships held in Brazil in 1982. Thus, he reached the title of "the youngest world record holder" in weightlifting history. He was chosen as the "Weightlifter of the Year" in the world in 1984, 1985 and 1986. Naim Süleymanoğlu, who broke 6 world and 9 Olympic records at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was chosen as the "World's Best Weightlifter", was on the cover of Time magazine on October 3, 1988 with the title "Everybody Wins". He was chosen as the "World's Best Athlete" by the International Weightlifting Press Commission in 1992. He has three gold Olympic medals, seven world championships and seven European championships throughout his career. He broke the world record 46 times. He made history as the only person in the world to achieve this feat by lifting 190 kg, which is 10 kilograms more than three times his own weight, in the clean and jerk. No other weightlifter in the world has yet repeated this feat. Naim Süleymanoğlu passed away at the age of 50 due to liver failure in the hospital where he was receiving treatment on November 18, 2017. The tomb of the legendary national weightlifter is in Edirnekapı Cemetery.