BOSNA HERSEK GÜREŞ FEDERASYONU EYLÜL AYINDA DÜZENLEYECEĞİ DÜNYA VETERANLAR GÜREŞ ŞAMPİYONASININ ONUR ÜYESİNİ ASRIN GÜREŞÇİSİ HAMZA YERLİKAYA SEÇTİ – TÜRKİYE GÜREŞ AİLESİ OLARAK BOSNA-HERSEK GÜREŞ FEDERASYONU BAŞKANI Sayın Sanel

BOSNA HERSEK GÜREŞ FEDERASYONU EYLÜL AYINDA DÜZENLEYECEĞİ DÜNYA VETERANLAR GÜREŞ ŞAMPİYONASININ ONUR ÜYESİNİ ASRIN GÜREŞÇİSİ HAMZA YERLİKAYA SEÇTİ – TÜRKİYE GÜREŞ AİLESİ OLARAK BOSNA-HERSEK GÜREŞ FEDERASYONU BAŞKANI Sayın Sanel

Hamza Yerlikaya

Hamza Yerlikaya (born June 6, 1976, in Kadıköy, Istanbul) is a Turkish Graeco-Roman style wrestler. He is a two-time (in 1996 and 2000) Olympic champion, three-time World Champion (1993, 1995, and 2005), and the only Turkish wrestler to ever become European champion eight times. He was named The Wrestler of the century in 1996 by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA).Hamza Yerlikaya’s first international competition was in 1991 World Cadets Wrestling Championships in Quebec, Canada, in which he got the fourth place. His first senior international event was the 1993 European Wrestling Championships in Istanbul where he got the second place, losing to Thomas Zander in the finals. He surprised some of the spectators who thought this was a coincidence by winning the gold medal in 1993 World Wrestling Championships in Stockholm, Sweden at the age of 17, and hence becoming the youngest ever World Champion in wrestling.
As his age allowed, in some years he participated in seniors, juniors as well as cadets events. He won the World Championship again in 1995 and went on to win his first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta 1996 at the age of 20. He repeated his success four years later in Sydney 2000 and carried the flag for Turkey at the Sydney 2000 opening ceremony. Since then he has won three more World Championships (2002, 2003 and (at 96 kg) 2005). He has won the European Seniors Championship eight times (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006).
He competed in 84 kg Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling for Turkey in 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and placed 4th.
In April 2007, he withdrew from international competition due to emergency surgery to correct neck fractures, some of which were estimated to have been as much as four years old and never treated.