OLYMPICS - Naim - The hero of Turkey
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from September 1988.
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It's over before it starts. He wiggles for a moment, then meditates, opens his mouth wide and snaps the massive weight above his head, leaving the competition behind with his first attempt.
It's a new Olympic record. It's the first gold medal of this Olympiad for Turkey, the country that adopted him two years ago. And before he was finished Tuesday night the 132-pound strongman had his 28th, 29th and 30th world records.
His name is Naim Suleymanoglu and he is, quite simply, the strongest man pound for pound in the world.
"I wanted to hear that very much," he said when the last strains of the Turkish anthem have died away. "I like to win always. I'm very happy I did something for my country. I'm very proud of it."
Since defecting from Bulgaria, Suleymanoglu has been welcomed by the Turks as a conquering hero.
The son of a miner of Turkish descent, the Pocket Hercules grew up in Ptichar, a remote Bulgarian mountain village. He began lifting at 10, doing endless repitions with an empty bar to hone his technique. At 15 he set his first world record.
Resentment of the Turks runs deep in Bulgaria, a country occupied by the Ottoman Empire for nearly 500 years. Turks in Bulgaria have historically been a distinct and sometimes unpopular minority.
The defection was triggered in 1984 when the Bulgarian government instituted a plan to assimilate Bulgarian Turks.
Among the edicts: people of Turkish descent were ordered to use Bulgarian variations of their names. Thus, his birth name, Naim Suleimanov, became Naum Shalamanov.
"I never thought of leaving Bulgaria until then. I wanted to keep my name," he said. "There are a million people in Bulgaria whose names were changed. Mine was among them." Suleymangolu said his parents still live in Bulgaria.
"I haven't seen them in two years. I'm very sad that I haven't seen them. I'd like to ask to demand that the Bulgarian authorities allow them to come to Turkey."
He defected in 1986 while competing in Australia, secretively leaving a banquet. He flew to London, where he was picked up by Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal's private jet.
He changed his name again, this time to a decidedly Turkish variation, Naim Suleymanoglu, and instantly became a national hero.
But in order to compete, the Turkish government had to obtain a waiver from the Bulgarians. They got it for a price: some reports say it cost them 1.5 million dollars in cash.
