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The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Turkey

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This page contains a list of the greatest Turkish Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 3,059 Athletes, 15 of which were born in Turkey. This makes Turkey the birth place of the 50th most number of Athletes behind Morocco and Portugal.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Turkish Athletes of all time. This list of famous Turkish Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Turkish Athletes.

Photo of Meriones

1. Meriones ( - )

With an HPI of 50.16, Meriones is the most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages on wikipedia.

In Greek mythology, Meriones (Ancient Greek: Μηριόνης, romanized: Mēriónēs) was the Cretan son of Molus and Melphis or Euippe. Molus was a half-brother of Idomeneus. Like other heroes of mythology, Meriones was said to be a descendant of gods. As a grandson of Deucalion (son of Minos), Meriones' ancestors include Zeus, Europa, Helios, and Pasiphae, the sister of Circe. Meriones possessed the helmet of Amyntor, which Autolycus had stolen. He inherited the helmet from his father Molus and later gave it to Odysseus. Meriones killed seven men at Troy.

Photo of Georgios Orphanidis

2. Georgios Orphanidis (1859 - 1942)

With an HPI of 48.04, Georgios Orphanidis is the 2nd most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Georgios D. Orphanidis (Greek: Γεώργιος Ορφανίδης; 1859–1942) was an ethnic Greek sports shooter with both pistol and rifle. He competed for Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, at the 1906 Intercalated Games, and at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.In 1896 Orphanidis competed in all five of the shooting events: military rifle, free rifle, military pistol, rapid fire pistol, and free pistol. The first event held was the military rifle competition, in which Orphanidis placed fifth after scoring 1,698 points. His place in the second event, the military pistol, is unknown but he did not win a medal. He finished last place (of five) in the free pistol.Orphanidis placed second in his penultimate event, the rapid fire pistol, scoring 249 points on 20 hits in the event, finishing behind Ioannis Frangoudis. In the free rifle, Orphanidis won an Olympic championship; his score of 1,583 was bolstered by a second-string score of 520 in which he hit the target with all 10 shots. The results for the first, third, and fourth strings were 328, 420, and 315 points, respectively. Orphanidis missed only three times out of the 40 shots; twice in the first string and once in the fourth.

Photo of Kazım Ayvaz

3. Kazım Ayvaz (1938 - 2020)

With an HPI of 47.28, Kazım Ayvaz is the 3rd most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Kazım Ayvaz (March 10, 1938 – January 18, 2020) was a Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the lightweight class and a trainer. He won the gold medal in Men's Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1964 Olympics and became world champion twice.

Photo of Ayla Erduran

4. Ayla Erduran (1934 - )

With an HPI of 43.35, Ayla Erduran is the 4th most famous Turkish Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ayla Erduran (born 22 September 1934, Istanbul) is a Turkish violinist. A student of Karl Berger she performed her first recital when she was 10 years old. She then went on to study at the Paris International Conservatory from 1946 to 1951 under Benedetti and Benvenuti. After her graduation she went on to United States, where she stayed until 1955, and studied with Ivan Galamian and Zino Francescatti. From 1957 to 1958, Erduran studied under David Oistrakh at Moscow Conservatory. Her career as a violin teacher spanned between 1973 and 1990 in Switzerland, including her master's classes at the Lausanne Conservatory. Erduran earned the title of a state artist in 1971. She has also received a gold medal from the Ankara-based Sevda Cenap And Music Foundation (SCAMV). She won the fifth place prize in the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 1957, the Harriet Cohen-Olga Veryney Award in 1964, and the Beethoven Award of the Netherlands in 1970. Her performances with major orchestras includes the London Symphony, Suisse Romande, Berlin RIAS, Presidential Symphony Orchestra, and Czech Philharmonia. She has also worked with several conductors including Ernest Ansermet, Karel Ancerl, Paul Kletzki, Gennadi Rozhdetsvenski, Jean Fournet, Michel Plasson and Armin Jordan. Locations of her concerts include South Korea, the US, Canada, Middle East, India, Africa, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. She premiered Ulvi Cemal Erkin's violin concerto in 1958, conducted by Ulvi Cemal Erkin, in Belgium. Erduran also performed the Sibelius's violin concerto with Suisse Romande Orchestra, conducted by Ernest Ansermet, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Sibelius in Geneva. Her performances were broadcast on radio in England, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Iraq, the Netherlands, and the US. Erduran has had duet performances with notable musicians such as Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, Navarra String Quartet, Igor Oistrakh, Valery Oistrakh, Victor Pikaizen, Guy Fallot, Collins, and Mieczyslaw Weinberg.

Photo of Ruhi Sarıalp

5. Ruhi Sarıalp (1924 - 2001)

With an HPI of 42.31, Ruhi Sarıalp is the 5th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Ruhi Sarıalp (December 15, 1924 – March 3, 2001) was a Turkish track and field athlete, who competed mainly in the triple jump. He was born in Manisa.

Photo of Süreyya Ayhan

6. Süreyya Ayhan (1978 - )

With an HPI of 30.02, Süreyya Ayhan is the 6th most famous Turkish Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Süreyya Ayhan Kop (born September 6, 1978) is a Turkish former female middle distance track runner who specialised in the 1500 metres. In November 2009, she was banned for life by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) due to her second anti-doping rule violation. Ayhan ran for the sports clubs MTA Ankara and Fenerbahçe Istanbul. She then joined the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club. She holds Turkish records in 800 m (2:00.64) and 1500 m (3:55.33). She became the first Turkish woman ever to reach an Olympic semi-final during her participation in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The next year, she became the first Turkish woman to reach a World Championship final. She was the best European woman athlete running 1500 m in two consecutive years 2002 and 2003.

Photo of Nurcan Taylan

7. Nurcan Taylan (1983 - )

With an HPI of 28.53, Nurcan Taylan is the 7th most famous Turkish Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Nurcan Taylan (born 29 October 1983 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish Olympic, world and European champion in weightlifting. She holds six European and one world record (and tied two more world records). She was banned by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) after she tested positive for the anabolic steroid Methandienone for two years starting on 26 October 2011.

Photo of Eşref Apak

8. Eşref Apak (1982 - )

With an HPI of 28.28, Eşref Apak is the 8th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Eşref Apak (born 3 January 1982 in Kalecik, Ankara) is a Turkish hammer thrower. Apak was a member of Fenerbahçe Athletics in Istanbul then transferred to Enkaspor, where he was coached by Artun Talay. The 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) tall athlete at 115 kg (254 lb) was a student of physical education and sports at Gazi University in Ankara.Apak took part at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and originally took a fource place with 79.51 m result. After a series of doping-related disqualifications he moved up to second place after the gold medalist Koji Murofushi of Japan. However as he had been suspended from the sport for doping offenses since 2004, the IOC decided not to award the both silver and bronze medals. In 2005 Apak participated at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería and won the gold medal. Eşref Apak is married to sprinter Sema Aydemir, and the couple has a son Ali.He served a 2-year doping ban for the use of a prohibited substance, Stanozolol. The ban lasted from 8 June 2013 to 25 June 2015.

Photo of Nur Tatar

9. Nur Tatar (1992 - )

With an HPI of 28.02, Nur Tatar is the 9th most famous Turkish Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Nur Tatar Askari (born August 16, 1992 in Van, Turkey) is a world and European champion Turkish female taekwondo practitioner competing in the feather, light and welterweight divisions. She is of Kurdish descent.She was a member of the TSE Sports Club in Ankara before she transferred to Ankara İller Bankası. She is coached by Cüneyt Gülçek.Nur Tatar won her first medal at the age of 15. She won twice the European Junior Taekwondo Championships, and reached to gold medals in A-class tournaments in Europe. She won the silver medal at the 2010 European Taekwondo Championships held in Saint Petersburg, Russia.She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics where she won the silver medal at 67 kg. At the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey she became gold medalist. She qualified again for olympics at 2016 She got married in 2017 to a former member of Iranian national taekwondo team Mehran Askari.

Photo of Aslı Çakır Alptekin

10. Aslı Çakır Alptekin (1985 - )

With an HPI of 26.17, Aslı Çakır Alptekin is the 10th most famous Turkish Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Aslı Çakır Alptekin (born 20 August 1985 in Antalya) is a former Turkish female middle-distance runner. A member of the Üsküdar Belediyespor in Istanbul, she is coached by her husband, runner Ihsan Alptekin. She was banned for life for repeated doping offenses.

Pantheon has 15 people classified as athletes born between 1859 and 1999. Of these 15, 11 (73.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living athletes include Ayla Erduran, Süreyya Ayhan, and Nurcan Taylan. The most famous deceased athletes include Meriones, Georgios Orphanidis, and Kazım Ayvaz. As of April 2022, 4 new athletes have been added to Pantheon including Kazım Ayvaz, Eşref Apak, and Mete Gazoz.

Living Athletes

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Deceased Athletes

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Newly Added Athletes (2022)

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