# Mithat Bayrak

Mithat Bayrak (3 March 1929 – 20 April 2014) was a Turkish sports wrestler and trainer, who won two consecutive gold medals in the Welterweight class of Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling at the 1956 Olympics and 1960 Olympics.

## Career

Mithat Bayrak lived his youth in Sakarya. He was interested in oil wrestling in his youth, but switched to wrestling on the mat in 1949. He joined the Sakarya Wrestling Club. After attracting attention with his successful performance, he was included in the Turkish national wrestling team and worked with important coaches such as Gazanfer Bilge, Mehmet Oktav, Hüseyin Erkmen and Celal Atik. He wrestled only in the Greco-Roman style.
He competed in a major international tournament for the first time at the Mediterranean Games in 1955, where he had to settle for fifth place in the heavyweight division. At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, he won the gold medal in the 73 kg Greco-Roman style, defeating Hungarian Miklós Szilvásy in the first round by a 2–1 decision, Bulgarian Mitko Petkov in the second round, American Jay Holt in the third round by a 3–0 decision, and Per Berlin of Sweden and Soviet Vladimir Maneyev in the final round by a 3–0 decision.
In the qualifiers held in Turkey for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, he defeated Kazım Ayvaz in the welterweight division and was selected for the team. In the 1960 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the second Olympics by defeating Yugoslav Stevan Horvat in the first round by decision of the referee, Austrian Franz Berger in the second round, Swedish Bertil Nyström in the third round by decision of the referee, Hungarian Antal Rizmayer in the fifth round by decision of the referee, Soviet Hryhoriy Hamarnik in the sixth round, and Günther Maritschnigg of the United Germany Team in the seventh round.
Olympic Games at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, he tied with Sweden's Bertil Nyström in the first round, defeated Finland's Matti Laakso by decision in the second round, and lost to Rudolf Vesper of Team United Germany by decision in the third round. He finished eleventh at the Olympics with six penalty points at the end of the third round.
Bayrak then ended his international career as a wrestler and emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1961. He continued to wrestle for KSV Witten 07 for about 20 years, also working as a coach for the club. Together with his wife he ran several restaurants in Witten. He lived in Herdecke, worked as a youth coach at KSV Witten 07 and was the father of a son. Bayrak was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in September 2011 for his services to the sport of wrestling.
20 April 2014, the Turkish Wrestling Federation announced that Bayrak, who was residing in Germany, died at the age of 85 due to an illness. Mithat Bayrak was buried at the Wrestling Foundation cemetery after the noon prayer at Ankara Karşıyaka Mosque.

## Achievements

* 1955 Mediterranean Games in Barcelona, Spain – 4th (Greco-Roman Welterweight)
* 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia – gold (Greco-Roman Welterweight)
* 1958 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary – 10th (Greco-Roman Middleweight)
* 1959 Wrestling Tournament in Savona, Italy – gold (Greco-Roman Middleweight)
* 1959, Wrestling Tournament in Split, Yugoslavia – silver (Greco-Roman Welterweight)
* 1959 Mediterranean Games in Beirut, Lebanon – silver (Greco-Roman Welterweight)
* 1959 Balkan Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey – silver (Greco-Roman Middleweight)
* 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy – gold (Greco-Roman Welterweight)