Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-12-2021 10:00 AM Examining the ‘Pocket Hercules’ – Naim Suleymanoglu: His Life and Career in Olympic Weightlifting and International Sport Oguzhan Keles, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Dr. Robert K. Barney, The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the Master of Arts degree in Kinesiology © Oguzhan Keles 2021 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Recommended Citation Keles, Oguzhan, "Examining the ‘Pocket Hercules’ – Naim Suleymanoglu: His Life and Career in Olympic Weightlifting and International Sport" (2021). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 7704. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/7704 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract and Keywords Set within the context under which ethnic-Turks suffered seriously amidst rising communism in post World War II Eastern Europe, this thesis examines the socio- political-cultural circumstances surrounding the life and sporting career of Olympic weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, a Bulgarian-born Muslim of Turkish descent. This thesis examines several phases of Suleymanoglu’s life, much of which was devoted to aiding and abetting a mass exodus of Muslim ethnic-Turkish community members from Bulgaria to Turkey, the pursuit of Olympic achievement, and service to the enhancement of the sport of weightlifting in Turkey. By utilizing sports platforms and his remarkable success in weightlifting, widely reported by world media, Suleymanoglu’s life, in the end, translated to a new dimension surrounding the identification of Turkey in the sporting world, one in which weightlifting rivalled time-honoured wrestling as Turkey’s national sport.