The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Türkiye

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This page contains a list of the greatest Turkish Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 71 of which were born in Türkiye. This makes Türkiye the birth place of the 40th most number of Athletes behind Denmark, and Croatia.

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 Yusuf Dikeç

1. Yusuf Dikeç (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 56.92, Yusuf Dikeç is the most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages on wikipedia.

Yusuf Dikeç (born 1 January 1973) is a Turkish sport shooter who competes in the pistol events. He is a retired non-commissioned officer of the Turkish Gendarmerie and a member of Jandarma Gücü Sports Club. He has been subject to overnight fame and various Internet memes due to his casual attire combined with minimal equipment during the 2024 Summer Olympics in which he won a silver medal in the 10 meter air pistol mixed team event alongside his teammate Şevval İlayda Tarhan. Dikeç used the following expression in his life philosophy on the official Olympic page: "Success doesn't come with your hands in your pockets."

Photo of Ahmet Ayık

2. Ahmet Ayık (b. 1938)

With an HPI of 56.17, Ahmet Ayık is the 2nd most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ahmet Ayık (born March 31, 1938), is a former Turkish World champion of Karachay origin and Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the Light heavyweight class (97 kg) and a sports executive. He won the silver medal at the 1964 Olympics in Men's Freestyle wrestling and the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics.

Photo of Georgios Orphanidis

3. Georgios Orphanidis (1859 - 1942)

With an HPI of 55.38, Georgios Orphanidis is the 3rd most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 22 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

4. Kazım Ayvaz (1938 - 2020)

With an HPI of 53.57, Kazım Ayvaz is the 4th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 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 Müzahir Sille

5. Müzahir Sille (1931 - 2016)

With an HPI of 50.99, Müzahir Sille is the 5th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Müzahir Sille (21 September 1931 – 17 May 2016) was a Turkish Olympic champion sports wrestler in the Featherweight class and a trainer. He won the gold medal in Men's Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1960 Olympics. Born in Istanbul, he began 1949 sports wrestling in the "Istanbul Güreş Ihtisas Kulübü", a club specialized in wrestling. Competing in Greco-Roman style, Müzahir Sille became gold medalist in wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics after he won the silver medal twice at World championships and ranked 4th at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He continued his wrestling career from 1961 on in the wrestling club KSV Witten 07 in Germany along with his teammate Mithat Bayrak, where he became regional champion. After his wrestling career ended, he returned to Istanbul to start several non-profit organizations mainly targeted towards helping the homeless. He lived in Istanbul with his wife, Dinani Sille until he died in 2016.

Photo of Ruhi Sarıalp

6. Ruhi Sarıalp (1924 - 2001)

With an HPI of 50.74, Ruhi Sarıalp is the 6th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 19 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 Mahmut Demir

7. Mahmut Demir (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 45.69, Mahmut Demir is the 7th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Mahmut Demir (21 January 1970 in Amasya, Turkey), is a Turkish Olympic, World and European champion former wrestler in the super heavyweight class. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Men's Freestyle wrestling.

Photo of Mehmet Akif Pirim

8. Mehmet Akif Pirim (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 45.25, Mehmet Akif Pirim is the 8th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Mehmet Akif Pirim (September 17, 1968, Rize, Turkey), is a former Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the featherweight class (62 kg), and currently a trainer. He won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Men's Greco-Roman wrestling and the bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics.

Photo of Bahri Tanrıkulu

9. Bahri Tanrıkulu (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 39.88, Bahri Tanrıkulu is the 9th most famous Turkish Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Bahri Tanrıkulu (born March 16, 1980, in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish taekwondo practitioner, who competed in the Men's 80 kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece and won the silver medal. He studied at Akdeniz University. He is Turkey's first World and European Taekwondo champion. He was a member of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club before he transferred to Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kağıt Spor Kulübü. The 1.86 m (6.1 ft) tall athlete is student of physical education and sports at Akdeniz University. He qualified for participation at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he reached the semi-final.

Photo of Süreyya Ayhan

10. Süreyya Ayhan (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 39.02, Süreyya Ayhan is the 10th most famous Turkish Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 19 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. In 2007, Ayhan was served with a lifetime competition ban due to violating anti-doping regulations.

People

Pantheon has 71 people classified as Turkish athletes born between 1859 and 2003. Of these 71, 67 (94.37%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Turkish athletes include Yusuf Dikeç, Ahmet Ayık, and Mahmut Demir. The most famous deceased Turkish athletes include Georgios Orphanidis, Kazım Ayvaz, and Müzahir Sille. As of April 2024, 58 new Turkish athletes have been added to Pantheon including Yusuf Dikeç, Ahmet Ayık, and Müzahir Sille.

Living Turkish Athletes

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Deceased Turkish Athletes

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Newly Added Turkish Athletes (2024)

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