Turkish weightlifter Naim dies at 50

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s legendary triple Olympic gold-medal winning weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, the diminutive “pocket Hercules,” has died aged 50, state media said.

Suleymanoglu, was only 1.47 metres (4.8 feet) tall, scored a historic hat-trick of consecutive Olympic titles starting in Seoul in 1988 then Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996. He The Bulgarian-born Suleymanoglu, who had in late September been admitted to intensive care after suffering liver failure, died in hospital in Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency said. The weightlifter had been given a liver transplant earlier this month after a suitable donor was found and initial reports had said that the surgery was successful. Suleymanoglu’s exploits made him a national hero in Turkey, where he is regarded as one of the greatest sports personalities in the country’s history. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had visited Suleymanoglu in hospital and received the news while delivering a speech to supporters, expressed his condolences on live television over Suleymanoglu’s death.

The path to stardom for Suleymanoglu, who was born Naim Suleimanov as a member of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, was not smooth. He initially competed for Bulgaria but defected from the then-communist Bulgaria in December 1986 during the Weightlifting World Cup in Melbourne.