Mahmut Atalay

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Medal record
Men's Freestyle Wrestling
Olympic Games
Bronze	1964 Tokyo, Japan	Welterweight
Gold	1968 Mexico City, Mexico	Welterweight
World Championships
Bronze	1963 Sofia, Bulgaria	Welterweight
Silver	1965 Manchester, England	Welterweight
Gold	1966 Toledo, Ohio, U.S.	Welterweight
European Championships
Silver	1966 Karlsruhe, Germany	Welterweight
Silver	1967 Istanbul, Turkey	Welterweight
Mediterranean Games
Gold	1959 Beirut, Lebanon	Welterweight
Gold	1963 Naples, Italy	Welterweight
Balkan Championships
Gold	1962 Istanbul, Turkey	Welterweight
Gold	1965 Yambol, Bulgaria	Welterweight

Mahmut Atalay (March 30, 1934, Çorum - December 4, 2004, Ankara), was a Turkish World champion and Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the Welterweight class (73kg until 1961, 78kg from 1961 on) and a trainer. He won the bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics in Men's Freestyle wrestling and the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics.

He was born 1934 in Çorak, a village of Çorum Province in northern Turkey as a member of a family, which immigrated from the Caucasus after 1864. Mahmut Atalay began wrestling as a youngster in the traditional Turkish Karakucak Wrestling and then switched over to sports wrestling. He was admitted to the national team after winning his title of Turkish champion in 1959, and received training by the renowned wrestlers such as Yaşar Doğu, Celal Atik and Nasuh Akar. He became 15 times national champion. Besides his medals at two Olympic Games, Mahmut Atalay became World champion and won several titles at various championships.

In 1968, he was honored by the International Wrestling Federation FILA with the award "Most Technical Wrestler of the World".^[1] He retired from the active sports in 1968 after having represented his country more than 150 times successfully at international competitions, and served then for 16 more years as the trainer of the national team.

Mahmut Atalay died on December 4, 2004 in Ankara following a heart attack. He was succeeded by his wife Perihan and three children.