Celal Atik

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Medal record
Men's Freestyle Wrestling
Olympics
Gold	1948 London	Lightweight
World Championships
Gold	1951 Helsinki, Finland	73 kg
European Championships
Gold	1946 Stockholm, Sweden	67 kg
Gold	1949 Istanbul, Turkey	73 kg

Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling
Olympic medal record
World Championships
Silver	1950 Stockholm, Sweden	73 kg
European Championships
Bronze	1947 Prague, Czechoslovakia	67 kg
Balkan Championships
Silver	1940 Istanbul, Turkey	72 kg

Celal Atik (1918, Yozgat - April 27, 1979, Ankara), 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 Gürdan of Boğazlıyan district in Yozgat. 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 watched him acting very quickly at the Turkey Wrestling Championships in 1938.

Celal Atik, wrestling in both categories, became World champion and European champion twice besides Olympic gold medalist. After retiring from active sports, he served between 1955 and 1979 as trainer of his country's national team and tought 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 coming from all around the world.

He is recognized as the most smart wrestler of Turkey with the best technique having the the most aesthetic physique. He was awarded with the Légion d'honneur of France.

Celal Atik died on April 27, 1979 in a hospital in Ankara. A sports hall in Izmir with a capacity of 1,200 people^[1] and another one in his hometown Yozgat is named after him.^[2]

1 Achievements
- 1.1 Wrestler
- 1.2 Trainer of the national team
2 External links
3 References

[edit] Achievements

[edit] Wrestler

1940 Balkan Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey - silver (Greko-Roman style 72 kg)
1946 European Wrestling Championships in Stockholm, Sweden - gold (Freestyle 67 kg)
1947 European Wrestling Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia - bronze (Greko-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 (Greko-Roman style 73 kg)
1951 World Wrestling Championships in Helsinki, Finland - gold (Freestyle 73 kg)