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. 
 

UWW Playlists: Best of Olympic champ Esmaeili

Friday, January 9, 2026 - 11:31 By United World Wrestling Press

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Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) was the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics at 67kg in Greco-Roman. A year later in 2025, he added the world title to his name, his first at the senior level, to be among one of the best Greco wrestler currently.

The 22-year-old is also a U17 and U20 world champion and has wins over all top wrestlers of his weight class including Olympic champion Luis ORTA (CUB) and two-time world silver medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE).

Watch all matches of Esmaeili from early days to him becoming a world champion in Zagreb in 2025.

Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI): All Bouts of Olympic champion