Obituary

Turkish Wrestling Great Kazim Ayvaz Passes Away

Monday, January 27, 2020 - 03:21 By United World Wrestling Press

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Turkish Greco-Roman wrestling great Kazim AYVAZ, an Olympic champion and multiple-time world champion, passed away last Sunday at the age of 83. 

Ayvaz competed in three consecutive Olympics from 1960 to 1968. In 1964, Ayvaz captured a gold medal in Greco-Roman at the Tokyo Olympics in the lightweight category. In addition, he won world titles in 1958 and 1962. 

Ayvaz was born in Rize, Turkey, in 1937. His wrestling career started in 1953 at the age of 15. After his competitive wrestling career, Ayvaz spent time training Turkish wrestlers before moving to Sweden. 
 

Cuban Wrestling Great, UWW Hall of Famer Gustavo Rolle Fernandez Passes Away

Thursday, November 28, 2019 - 16:18 By United World Wrestling Press

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Cuban wrestling great Gustavo ROLLE FERNANDEZ, an Honorary Member of the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame, passed away at the age of 78.

Rolle devoted much of his life to the development of wrestling in Cuba. 

After Rolle's competitive wrestling career was cut short by injury, he served as head coach of Cuba's freestyle wrestling national team from 1965 until 1982. He then took over as President of the Cuban Wrestling Federation, a position he held until 2008.  

Rolle served as Director of National High Performance (1990-1995), President of the Pan American Wrestling Committee (1990-1995) and UWW Bureau Member & Head of Science & Technical Department (1995-2012). He was appointed as UWW Honorary Bureau Member in 2014.

He is the creator of the Granma y Cerro Pelado Tournament, an annual international wrestling event held in Havana, Cuba.