Yaşar Doğu

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Medal record
Men's Freestyle Wrestling
Olympics
Gold	1948 London, England	Welterweight
World Championships
Gold	1951 Helsinki, Finland	Light heavyweight
European Championships
Gold	1946 Stockholm, Sweden	Welterweight
Gold	1949 Istanbul, Turkey	Middleweight

Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling
European Championships
Silver	1939 Oslo, Norway	Lightweight
Gold	1947 Prague, Czechoslovakia	Lightweight
Balkan Championships
Silver	1940 Istanbul, Turkey	Lightweight

Yaşar Doğu (1913, Samsun - January 8, 1961, Ankara), was a legendary Turkish sports wrestler and trainer, who won the gold medal in the Welterweight class of Men's Freestyle Wrestling at the 1948 Olympics.

He was born in the village Karlı of Kavak district in Samsun province to a family of Caucasian origin. He began wrestling at his age of 15 in yağlı güreş (oil wrestling) and continued in this folk sports antil he entered the military service. His sports wrestling career started 1936 in Ankara as he was discovered by the sports wrestler Celal Atik.

Yaşar Doğu was admiited to the national team in 1939. He participated at the European Championships held that year in Oslo, Norway and became silver medalist in Greko-Roman style, his only participation at any international competition missing the gold medal. He became Balkan, European and World champion besides Olympic gold medalist. Yaşar Doğu wrestled 47 times in the national team between 1939 and 1951, of which only one he lost. 33 of his matches he won by near-fall. All his 46 winning matches lasted 372 minutes in total, whereas the normal duration should be 690 minutes. After retiring from the active sports, he served as the trainer of the national team.

He married to Hayriye on October 15, 1937. Yaşar Doğu gave the name Gazanfer to one of his sons in admiration to his teammate Gazanfer Bilge. His son Gazanfer Doğu was educated in the USA, and became a lecturer of physical education and sports at Abant Izzet Baysal University in Bolu.^[1]

Yaşar Doğu suffered a heart attack during the 1955 championships held in Sweden, where he was as the trainer of Turkey's wrestling team. He died on January 8, 1961 in Ankara following a second heart attack.

[edit] Achievements

1939 European Wrestling Championships in Oslo, Norway - silver (Greko-Roman style Lightweight)
1940 Balkan Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey - silver (Greko-Roman style Lightweight)
1946 European Wrestling Championships in Stockholm, Sweden - gold (Freestyle Welterwieght)
1947 European Wrestling Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia - gold (Greko-Roman style Welterweight)
1948 Summer Olympics in London, England - gold (Freestyle Welterweight)
1949 European Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey - gold (Freestyle Middleweight)
1951 World Wrestling Championships in Helsinki, Finland - gold (Freestyle Light heavyweight)