Obituary

Olympic champion Mustafa Dagistanli passes away

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (September 20) -- Two-time Olympic champion and member of the United Wrestling Hall of Fame Mustafa DAGESTANLI (TUR) passed away on Monday. He was 91 years old.

Born in 1931 in Soguroinar village of Carsamba, Turkey, Dagistanli won gold medals at the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. He was also a three-time world champion with gold medals in 1954, 1957 and 1959.

In the 1956 Melbourne Games, Dagistanli won gold in the 56kg weight class. Four years later in Rome, he jumped up to 62kg and finished on the top of the podium.

Dagistanli made his debut for Turkey in 1953 but quickly became one of the most dominant wrestlers in the world and won the first world title in Tokyo in 1954.
 
In his 320 recorded bouts in Turkey, Dagistanli won 319 out of 320 bouts and 70 out of 73 at the international level. The achievement puts him among the best wrestlers walking on the planet during his active days.

After his retirement, he worked as a coach and was part of the Turkish Wrestling Federation. He also served in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as the Samsun Deputy of the Justice Party for two terms between 1973-1980 and received the State Distinguished Service Medal.

UWW Bureau Member, World Champion Pelle Svensson Passes Away

By United World Wrestling Press

Pelle SVENSSON (SWE), a former United World Wrestling bureau member and two-time world champion, passed away at the age of 77.

Svensson claimed a silver medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Greco-Roman competing in the light heavyweight category. He also won a pair of gold medals at the European Championships in 1969 and 1970 before winning world titles in 1970 and 1971.

After his wrestling career, Svensson pursued a career as a lawyer and took on several high-profile criminal cases.

Svensson served as chairman of the Swedish Wrestling Federation from 1993 to 1998 and was UWW (then FILA) bureau member from 1990 to 2007.