Ahmet Bilek (15 March 1932 – 4 October 1970) was a Turkish wrestler and coach. Competing in the flyweight division, he won the gold medal in the men's freestyle 52 kg event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He also won silver medals at the 1953 World Wrestling Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling and at the 1959 World Wrestling Championships in freestyle wrestling.

Career

Bilek was born in Kula, Manisa, on 15 March 1932. His first major international result came at the 1953 World Wrestling Championships in Naples, where he won the silver medal in the Greco-Roman flyweight class. Two years later, he won the gold medal in the same weight class at the 1955 Mediterranean Games in Barcelona, defeating Egypt's Osman El-Sayed in the final.

In 1959, Bilek took the silver medal in the freestyle flyweight division at the 1959 World Wrestling Championships in Tehran. He then added another silver medal at the 1960 Balkan Championships in Burgas.

Bilek reached the peak of his career at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In the men's freestyle 52 kg tournament, he defeated Japan's Masayuki Matsubara by decision in the first round, pinned the United States' Gray Simons in the second round, and lost by decision to the Soviet Union's Ali Aliyev in the third round. He recovered by pinning Pakistan's Din Nawab in the fourth round and the United Team of Germany's Paul Neff in the fifth round. In the sixth round, he defeated Iran's Ebrahim Seifpour by decision. Bilek and Matsubara finished level on five bad points, but Bilek took the gold medal on the head-to-head tie-break after his opening-round victory over the Japanese wrestler.

After the Rome Olympics, Bilek moved to West Germany, where he continued his wrestling career and later worked as a coach. Ahmet Bilek committed suicide on 4 October 1970 in Germany. He was married to Ayten and had a son Ali and a daughter Sevil.

External links

  • at Olympedia
  • at the International Wrestling Database