Eugel, Ali

Ali Eugel began to engage in national wrestling in his teens. At the age of fourteen, he arrived in Ankara , where he began to engage in the struggle of free and Greco-Roman styles, while simultaneously working at an aircraft factory in Etimesgut . In 1947 he moved to Istanbul, where he continued his studies in wrestling.
In 1949, he successfully made his international debut, winning the European Freestyle Wrestling Championship in Istanbul . There he won all his fights, including defeating the 1948 Olympic champion Lennart Wijtala from Finland.
In 1950, he also participated for the first time at the World Championships in Greco-Roman Wrestling in Stockholm and proved that he also mastered this style of wrestling well by winning a silver medal.
In 1951, Eugel won the gold medal at the first ever freestyle wrestling championship in Helsinki . Speaking at flyweight, he became the first ever freestyle wrestling world champion.
In 1952, in connection with a criminal incident, the Turkish Wrestling Federation was suspended from participation in the 1952 Olympic Games and was disqualified for an indefinite period. Thus, at the age of 21, his athletic career actually ended. In 1960, according to the decision of the new head of the Turkish government, Jemal Gürsel, the disqualification was canceled, but taking into account the age and a long break in performances, Eugel could no longer act as an athlete.
He became a freestyle wrestling coach. His most famous pupil is Ali Riza Alan , the 1970 world champion.
He died on March 17, 1981.

• Ali Eugel - Profile at International Wrestling Database
• I. Kh. Totoonti “100 years of free-style wrestling” (Handbook), Vladikavkaz: Olympus, 2005 (Krasnodar: FSUE Sovetskaya Kuban Publishing House), 197 p.
• Classical and freestyle wrestling. Reference / Compiled by N. I. Softenkov - Moscow: Physical Culture and Sports, 1984, 240 pp.