Yaşar Doğu

Who was Yaşar Doğu?

Yaşar Doğu, was a renowned Turkish World and Olympic champion sports wrestler in Greco-Roman and Freestyle.

He was born in the village Karlı of Kavak district in Samsun province to a family of Circassian origin. He began wrestling at his age of 15 in yağlı güreş and continued in this folk sports until 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 admitted 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 US, and became a lecturer of physical education and sports at Abant Izzet Baysal University in Bolu.