The story of the Olympic medal won with blood

We will take a closer look at the life story of Mustafa Dağıstanlı, who represented our country many times at the Olympics and won two gold medals.

Born in Samsun in 1931, Mustafa Dağıstanlı began wrestling at a young age. After being introduced to the mat during his military service, he quickly proved himself and won his first Turkish championship in 1951. A year later, Dağıstanlı won first place in the 54 kg freestyle at the World Wrestling Championships in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

The next international arena where our world champion wrestler would compete was the Mediterranean Games held in Barcelona in 1955. Competing in the 57 kg Greco-Roman style, Dağıstanlı managed to win the gold medal there as well, and his Olympic journey began.

Dağıstanlı competed in the 57 kg freestyle at the Melbourne-Stockholm 1956 Olympic Games. Managing to defeat his opponents, Dağıstanlı placed the gold medal around his neck.

In 2015-2016, while recounting his days in Melbourne to author Ahmet Seven, Dağıstanlı explained how he struggled to lose weight and how he earned the right to wrestle by giving blood:

“I just couldn't lose that extra 200 grams in Melbourne. There was little time left until my turn on the scale. I went to our doctor, Mahir Dermanver. 'I've found a way to do this,' I said. He asked, 'What is the way to do this?' 'You will take 200 grams of blood from me. That way, I will have lost the weight,' I said. 'That's impossible,' he said. I insisted, saying, 'It will work.' In the end, he took 200 grams of blood from me. The German Federation officials were at the head of the scale I stepped onto. I stepped on, and I had reached my exact weight. They were curious. They wanted to test the scale by placing a matchstick on it. And with a sigh of relief, I stepped off the scale. I had finally lost the weight.”

A year later, in 1957, the national wrestler returned to the mat at the World Wrestling Championships held in Istanbul and managed to become the champion in the 62 kg freestyle. In 1959, he did not let anyone else take the world championship in the same weight class at the championship held in Iran. He also became the champion in the freestyle style at the Balkan Championships held in Bulgaria in 1960.

The target for a gold medal this time was the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics. In the games where Turkey left its mark on world wrestling with 7 gold medals, Dağıstanlı also stepped onto the podium as the winner in the 62 kg freestyle. Along with our other champion wrestler Mithat Bayrak, Dağıstanlı became the first athlete to succeed in winning gold medals in two consecutive Olympics.

The legendary wrestler became famous for his unique ground-lifting, reverse-wrap, and 'dana bağı' (calf-tie) diving positions. Considered one of the best athletes in the world during his wrestling era, Dağıstanlı won 70 of the 73 matches he competed in for his country in the international arena, and he never lost in the freestyle style he had mastered. He lost only one of the 320 competitions he participated in within Turkey, leaving the mat victorious a full 319 times.

With a career full of championships, Dağıstanlı worked as a coach for a while after retiring from wrestling and served in the Turkish Wrestling Federation.

Dağıstanlı passed away in Ankara on September 18, 2022, at the age of 91. He left behind a wrestling life full of medals and championships.

News Source: 12punto