Naim Süleymanoğlu

Naim Süleymanoğlu
Naim Süleymanoğlu on a Paraguayan stamp
Personal information
Nickname(s) The Pocket Hercules
Nationality Turkish
Born (1967-01-23)23 January 1967
Momchilgrad, Bulgaria
Died 18 November 2017(2017-11-18) (aged 50)
Istanbul, Turkey
Resting place Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery
Years active 1985–2000
Height 1.47 m (4 ft 10 in) (2000)
Weight 62 kg (137 lb) (2000)
Sport
Country Bulgaria (1983–1986)
Turkey (1986–2000)
Sport Olympic weightlifting
Event(s) 56 kg (1983), 60 kg (1985–1992), 64 kg (1993–1996), 62 kg (2000)
Turned pro 1983
Retired 2000
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)
  • Snatch: 152.5 kg (1988, WR)
  • Clean & Jerk: 190.0 kg (1988, WR)
  • Total: 342.5 (1988, WR)
Medal record
Representing  Turkey
Olympic Games
1988 Seoul-60 kg
1992 Barcelona-60 kg
1996 Atlanta-64 kg
World Championships
1989 Athens-60 kg
1991 Donaueschingen-60 kg
1993 Melbourne64 kg
1994 Istanbul-64 kg
1995 Guangzhou-64 kg
European Championships
1994 Sokolov-64 kg
1995 Warsaw-64 kg
2000 Sofia-64 kg
Representing  Bulgaria
World Championships
1985 Södertälje-60 kg
1986 Sofia-60 kg
1983 Moscow-56 kg
Friendship Games
1984 Varna-56 kg
Updated on 28 October 2014.

Naim Süleymanoğlu (23 January 1967 – 18 November 2017), was a Turkish world and Olympic Champion in weightlifting, who was nicknamed “The Pocket Hercules” because of his small stature of 1.47 m (4 ft 10 in). In the 1988 Summer Olympics, he set a record by lifting 190 kg in the clean and jerk.[1] He was awarded the Olympic Order in 2001. In 2000 and 2004, he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.[2]

Süleymanoğlu is the first and only weightlifter to have snatched 2.5 times his body weight and also is the second of only seven lifters to date to clean and jerk three times his body weight.[3] He is the only weightlifter to date to clean and jerk 10 kilos more than triple his bodyweight.[4] Süleymanoğlu set his first world record at age 16, but missed his first chance at Olympic success in 1984, when Bulgaria joined the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Biography

Early life

Süleymanoğlu was born as Naim Syuleymanov (Bulgarian: Наим Сюлейманов) in Ptichar, Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria to an ethnic Turkish family. His father was a miner who stood only five feet tall, while is mother was four-foot-seven.[5] He won championships in his teens and may have competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics had Bulgaria not joined in a boycott by the Eastern Bloc.[6]

In the 1980s, Bulgaria’s government implemented a program called the Revival Process which required ethnic minorities to adopt Slavic names and barred their languages.[7] As a result, Süleymanoğlu changed his name to Naum Shalamanov (Bulgarian: Наум Шаламанов) in 1985.[5]

While on a trip to the World Cup Final in Melbourne in 1986, Suleimanov escaped his handlers, and after several days in hiding, he defected at the Turkish Embassy in Canberra. After making his way to Istanbul, he changed his name to Süleymanoğlu.[5]

Career

In order for him to compete at the 1988 Seoul Olympics the Bulgarian government had to agree to release his eligibility to Turkey. The Turks paid Bulgaria $1 million for his release.[6] At the Olympics, Süleymanoğlu did not disappoint, winning the featherweight gold medal. His performance was high enough to win the weight class above his.[8] He retired at the age of 22, after winning the world championship in 1989. However, he returned in 1991 before winning a second Olympic gold medal at Barcelona in 1992. Between the Olympiads, Süleymanoğlu continued to win world titles and set records.

The 1996 Olympic Games were to be his swan song and he retired after winning a third consecutive Olympic gold medal in Atlanta at the 1996 Olympic Games. That competition was noted for the rivalry between himself and Greece's Valerios Leonidis, with the arena divided into partisan Turkish and Greek crowds. At the end of the competition they were the very last competitors remaining as they traded three straight world-record lifts; Süleymanoğlu managed to raise 187.5 kg and then Leonidis failed in his attempt to lift 190 kg, which guaranteed him the silver medal. Announcer Lynn Jones proclaimed "You have just witnessed the greatest weightlifting competition in history," according to Ken Jones in the London Independent.[9][10][11][12]

Süleymanoğlu made another comeback in a late attempt to earn a fourth gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, which would have been an Olympic record, but failed three attempts at 145 kg[13] and was eliminated from the competition. He was awarded the Olympic Order in 2001. In 2000 and 2004, he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.[2]

At the 1999 general elections, he stood as an independent candidate to represent Bursa at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. In 2002, he was the candidate of the Nationalist Movement Party for the mayor of Kıraç municipality in Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul Province and represented the same party in general elections in 2006. He was unsuccessful in all these attempts.[14]

He suffered from cirrhosis of the liver for a long time.[15] In 2009, he was in hospital for nearly three months.[16]

Death

On 25 September 2017, he was admitted to a hospital due to the liver failure[15] On 6 October, a liver transplantation was made when a liver donor was found.[15] On 11 November, he had surgery due to a hemorrhage in the brain and a subsequent edema. He died at 14:50pm UTC on 18 November 2017. Süleymanoğlu‘s cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver.[17]

Major results

Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank
1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank
Olympic Games
1988South Korea Seoul, South Korea60 kg145150.5152.5 WR1175188.5190 WR1342.5 WR1st, gold medalist(s)
1992Spain Barcelona, Spain60 kg142.51531531170177.5--13201st, gold medalist(s)
1996United States Atlanta, United States64 kg145147.5147.51180185187.51330 WR1st, gold medalist(s)
2000Australia Sydney, Australia62 kg145145145--

Career bests

References

  1. ↑ "Biography of Naim Süleymanoğlu". www.sports-reference.com. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Weightlifting Hall of Fame". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  3. ↑ "Naim Suleymanoglu". www.olympic.org.
  4. ↑ "Who in the world has ever lifted three times their body weight?". chidlovski.net.
  5. 1 2 3 Sandomir, Richard (2017-11-22). "Naim Suleymanoglu, 50, Dies; Weight Lifting's 'Pocket Hercules'". New York Times.
  6. 1 2 "Suleymanoglu Lifts Weights and Hearts with Extraordinary Hat-Trick". olympic.org. 1988-09-22.
  7. ↑ The Policies of the Bulgarian Communist Party towards Jews, Roma, Pomaks and Turks (1944-89) Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine. (Bulgarian). By Ulrich Büchsenschütz. International Center for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations, 2000. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "Naim Suleymanoglu Bio, Stats and Results". www.sports-reference.com.
  9. ↑ 1996 Olympics Day 4. sportsillustrated.cnn.com
  10. ↑ Naim Suleymanoglu - A Third Gold Medal - Leonidas, World, Competition, and Jones - JRank Articles. Sports.jrank.org. Retrieved on 2014-08-10.
  11. ↑ The New York Times: This Day In Sports. Nytimes.com (1996-07-22). Retrieved on 2014-08-10.
  12. ↑ Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Mount Olympus Meets the Middle Kingdom. Encyclopædia Britannica
  13. ↑ "Süleymanoglu Naim (TUR)". www.iat.uni-leipzig.de.
  14. ↑ "'Pocket Hercules,' 3-time Olympic weightlifting champion, dies at 50 | CBC Sports". CBC. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
  15. 1 2 3 "Champion Turkish weightlifter Süleymanoğlu dies at 50". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  16. ↑ http://www.novinite.ru/articles/26955/Брат+Наима+Сулейманоглу%3A+И+в+Болгарии+есть+люди%2C+которые+хотят+стать+донорами
  17. ↑ "Weightlifting legend Naim Süleymanoğlu dies at age 50". Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  18. ↑ "World records from 1972 – 1992". Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  19. ↑ "Naim Suleymanoglu". chidlovski.net.
  20. ↑ Ledder, Glenn (29 August 2013). Mathematics for the Life Sciences: Calculus, Modeling, Probability, and Dynamical Systems. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4614-7276-6.
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