Gazanfer Bilge
{{Short description|Turkish wrestler (1924–2008)}}
{{MedalTableTop}}
{{MedalSport | Men's freestyle wrestling}}
{{MedalCountry| {{TUR}} }}
{{MedalCompetition |Olympic Games}}
{{MedalGold | 1948 London | 62 kg}}
{{MedalCompetition |European Championships }}
{{MedalGold|1946 Stockholm|62 kg}}
{{MedalBottom}}
Gazanfer Bilge (July 23, 1924 – April 20, 2008) was a Turkish sports wrestler of Circassian descent{{Cite web |title=Nişanyan Yeradları - Türkiye ve Çevre Ülkeler Yerleşim Birimleri Envanteri |url=https://www.nisanyanyeradlari.com/?y=Fevziye&ul=All&b=Yalova&o=c&s=1&n=1 |access-date=2024-09-01 |website=Nişanyan Yeradları |language=tr}}{{Cite web |last=Benk |first=Ahmet Cevat |date=2023-05-31 |title=Yalova (Yalakabad) - Türkiye Çerkesleri 28. Bölüm |url=https://jinepsgazetesi.com/2023/06/yalova-yalakabad-turkiye-cerkesleri-28-bolum/ |access-date=2024-09-01 |website=Jineps Gazetesi |language=tr}} who won the gold medal in the Featherweight class of Men's Freestyle Wrestling at the 1948 Olympics.
Biography
Gazanfer Bilge was born July 23, 1924, in Karamürsel, Kocaeli. He began wrestling in his age of 17, and was admitted to the national team during his military service. After winning the European champion title, he became the first Olympic gold medalist for Turkey in freestyle wrestling in London, England.
Gazanfer Bilge retired in 1953 from active sports after his exclusion from participation at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. The International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) in Paris, France, honored him with the "2002 Public relations - Service to Sports and Community Trophy".[http://www.fairplayinternational.org/winners_item.php?id=632 Fair Play International official website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010143622/http://www.fairplayinternational.org/winners_item.php?id=632 |date=2007-10-10 }}
Gazanfer Bilge also owned a large overland coach business. He donated to the town where he was born and grown up a primary school for hearing-impaired students, a vocational school for physical education and sports at Kocaeli University, an orphanage and a building for homeless people. He also supported many young wrestlers and students with scholarships. A sports hall located in Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, opened in August 2006, is named after him as well.[http://www.fenerbahce.org/interaktif/detay.asp?ContentID=4330 Fenerbahçe S.K. official website] {{in lang|tr}} In 1963 Bilge was imprisoned for a year after he shot fellow Olympian Adil Atan.{{cite book|last1=Wallechinsky|first1=David|title=The Book of Olympic Lists|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofolympiclis0000wall|url-access=registration|date=2012|publisher=Aurum Press Ltd|location=London|isbn=9781845137731|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bookofolympiclis0000wall/page/230 230]}}
He was married and had a son named Muzaffer Bilge.
Achievements
Death
Gazanfer Bilge died on April 20, 2008, in Istanbul due to complications related to his liver.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070221172446/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BILGEGAZ01 Olympics Database]
- [http://www.kimkimdir.gen.tr/kimkimdir.php?id=821 Who is who] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012143106/http://www.kimkimdir.gen.tr/kimkimdir.php?id=821 |date=2007-10-12 }} {{in lang|tr}}
External links
- {{sports links}}
{{Olympic medalists for Turkey}}
{{Olympic Champions freestyle wrestling featherweight}}
{{European Champions freestyle wrestling featherweight}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilge, Gazanfer}}
Category:People from Karamürsel
Category:Sportspeople from Kocaeli Province
Category:Olympic wrestlers for Turkey
Category:Wrestlers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Category:Turkish male sport wrestlers
Category:Olympic gold medalists for Turkey
Category:Turkish people of Circassian descent
Category:Olympic medalists in wrestling
Category:Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Category:20th-century Turkish sportsmen
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