Former Olympic and World champion Turkish wrestler Kazim Ayvaz has died at the age of 83 in Sweden, The TWF – Turkish Wrestling Federation has confirmed via a statement. (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un: Indeed, to God we belong and to God we shall return.”)
Born in Rize, Turkey in 1937, Ayvaz showed an early interest in competitive wrestling and started a professional career in the sport in 1953.
He then went on to win Wrestling world Championships twice, in 1958 in Hungary and 1962 in USA defeating eminent wrestlers of the time from all over the globe.
Ayvaz also represented his country at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics Games. However, he aced the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and won Gold medals in the Greco-Roman style wrestling
After a successful career in wrestling, he started training the next breed of Turkish athletes and later moved his training operations to Sweden where he lived for the rest of his life.
Ayvaz had a huge fan following in Turkey and they took to social media to mourn the wrestling great and paid him tributes.
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