Naim Süleymanoğlu

At a glance

Source: Wikipedia: Naim Süleymanoğlu¹

Early life

Naim Süleymanoğlu was born in Ptichar, Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria, on 23 January 1967. He began setting weightlifting world records as a teenager. He competed for Bulgaria before moving to Turkey and was active in the sport from 1982 to 2000.¹

In the 1980s, Bulgaria’s government introduced the Revival Process, which required ethnic minorities to adopt Slavic names and barred their languages. In 1985, Süleymanoğlu was forced to take the name Naum Shalamanov. During a trip to the World Cup Final in Melbourne in 1986, he escaped his handlers and sought refuge at the Turkish Embassy in Canberra.¹

Olympic career

Süleymanoğlu went on to represent Turkey. To compete for the country at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Bulgaria had to release his eligibility, and Turkey paid Bulgaria $1.25 million. In the featherweight division, he set world records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total, winning his first Olympic gold medal.¹

He won further Olympic gold medals in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996. At the 1996 Games, he and Greece’s Valerios Leonidis traded world-record lifts before Süleymanoğlu secured the gold. He attempted a comeback at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but failed three attempts at 145 kg and was eliminated.¹

Later life

Across his career, Süleymanoğlu won three Olympic gold medals and seven World Weightlifting Championships, and set 51 world records from 1983 to 1996. His best listed Olympic total was 342.5 kg at Seoul in 1988. He received the Olympic Order in 2001 and was elected to the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame in 2000 and 2004.¹

After retiring, he stood unsuccessfully for public office in Turkey in 1999, 2002 and 2006. He died in Istanbul on 18 November 2017, aged 50. A film about his life, Cep Herkülü: Naim Süleymanoğlu, was released in Turkey in 2019. A monument, sports complex and museum dedicated to him are in Momchilgrad.¹