Rıza Kayaalp

Kayaalp was born on 10 October 1989 in Kavurgalı, a village in Yozgat Province, Turkey, as the youngest of six children in a working-class family.^[2] After completing primary school, he began Greco-Roman wrestling in 2000 at the Yozgat Wrestling Training Center, where he trained under Aydın Dal, Mustafa Doğan and Mustafa Başer.^[2]

He won his first international medal in 2005, when he became European cadet champion in the 100 kg category in Tirana, Albania.^[3] In the same year, he joined Ankara Büyükşehir Belediyesi ASKİ Sports Club, where he continued his wrestling development under Olympic champion Mehmet Akif Pirim.^[4]

Kayaalp graduated from Yozgat High School in 2006. He later studied at the School of Physical Education and Sports of Aksaray University and continued postgraduate studies at Bozok University.^[4]

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Kayaalp made his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. After receiving a bye in the first round, he lost to Lithuania's Mindaugas Mizgaitis in the second round and was eliminated from the tournament.^[5]

In 2009, he won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 120 kg event at the 2009 Mediterranean Games in Pescara, defeating Greece's Panagiotis Papadopoulos in the final by fall while leading 7–0. The same year, he became European junior champion in Tbilisi and won the World Junior Championships in the Greco-Roman 120 kg category in Ankara.^[6] He won a bronze medal at the 2009 World Wrestling Championships in Herning, Denmark.^[7]

In 2010, Kayaalp won the 120 kg title at the 28th International Vehbi Emre Greco-Roman Wrestling Tournament.^[8]

At the 2011 World Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Kayaalp won his first senior world title in the Greco-Roman 120 kg event. He defeated Cuba's Mijaín López 2–0 in the final, winning both periods 2–0.^[9]

In 2012, he won the European title in the Greco-Roman 120 kg category at the 2012 European Wrestling Championships in Belgrade. Later that year, he won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the men's Greco-Roman 120 kg event.^[10]

At the 2013 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Kayaalp initially won the bronze medal after defeating Sweden's Johan Eurén 3–0 in the bronze medal bout. His result was later upgraded to silver after Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari, who had beaten him in the semifinals, was disqualified for a doping violation.^[11][12] Kayaalp was Turkey's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin.^[13] At the Games, he won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 120 kg event, defeating Tunisia's Radhouane Chebbi 2–0 in the final.^[14]

At the 2014 World Wrestling Championships in Tashkent, Kayaalp reached the Greco-Roman 130 kg final, where he lost 2–0 to Mijaín López and won the silver medal.^[15]

In 2015, Kayaalp won the gold medal at the inaugural European Games in Baku, defeating Azerbaijan's Sabah Shariati 3–1 in the Greco-Roman 130 kg final.^[16] Later the same year, he won his second senior world title at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas. In the Greco-Roman 130 kg final, he defeated Mijaín López 1–0 to win the gold medal.^[17]

At the 2016 European Wrestling Championships in Riga, Kayaalp won the Greco-Roman 130 kg title. In the final, he defeated Ukraine's Oleksandr Chernetskyi by fall after the score had been tied 2–2.^[18]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Kayaalp won the silver medal in the men's Greco-Roman 130 kg event. As a seeded wrestler, he received a bye in the first round. He then defeated Venezuela's Erwin Caraballo by technical superiority in the second round, pinned Azerbaijan's Sabah Shariati in the quarter-finals and beat Germany's Eduard Popp by technical superiority in the semi-finals. In the final, he lost 6–0 to Cuba's Mijaín López and finished second.^[19]

At the 2017 World Wrestling Championships in Paris, Kayaalp won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 130 kg event. In the final, he defeated Estonia's Heiki Nabi 2–1 to win his third senior world title.^[20]

At the 2018 European Wrestling Championships in Kaspiysk, Russia, he won the Greco-Roman 130 kg title by defeating Russia's Vitalii Shchur 2–1 in the final.^[21]

At the 2019 European Wrestling Championships in Bucharest, Kayaalp defeated Georgia's Iakobi Kajaia 3–0 in the Greco-Roman 130 kg final. With this result, he won his eighth consecutive European title and his ninth European title overall.^[22]

At the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Kayaalp won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 130 kg event. He defeated Cuba's Óscar Pino 3–1 in the final and became the first Turkish wrestler to win four world titles in Greco-Roman wrestling.^[23]

Kayaalp won another gold by beating his Estonian rival Heiki Nabi 3–1 in the Greco-Roman 130 kilos in China, at the International Military Sports Council (CISM) World Games, an Olympic event where soldiers compete.^[24]

Kayaalp was chosen as the 2020 Athlete of the Year at the 66th Gillette Milliyet Athlete of the Year awards.^[25]

Kayaalp clinched his 10th European wrestling title by beating Georgia's Iakobi Kajaia 3–1 in the Greco-Roman 130 kg final.^[26] Kayaalp had to wait until the final match of the day to claim his historic title. In the final, he faced Iakobi Kajaia from Georgia, the same wrestler he had defeated to win the 2019 European title. Kayaalp won the final 3–1 after scoring a takedown and one point for Kajaia's passivity. He gave up a point for his own inactivity in the second round.^[27]

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Kayaalp won the bronze medal in the men's Greco-Roman 130 kg event. He defeated Lithuania's Mantas Knystautas 5–1 in the opening round and Germany's Eduard Popp 6–2 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, he lost 2–0 to Cuba's Mijaín López, with both points coming from cautions. In the bronze medal match, Kayaalp defeated Iran's Amin Mirzazadeh 7–2.^[28] With this result, he became the second Turkish wrestler after Hamit Kaplan to win medals at three Olympic Games.^[29]

In 2022, he won one of the bronze medals in his event at the Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan Tournament, the first United World Wrestling Ranking Series event of the year, held in Istanbul, Turkey.^[30] He won the gold medal in the men's 130 kg event at the 2022 European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. Kayaalp claimed a 4–0 victory over Danila Sotnikov from Italy in the 130 kg Greco-Roman division in Hungary's capital. Kayaalp won his eleventh gold medal in the 130 kg Greco-Roman division.^[31] He won the gold medal in the men's 130 kg event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022, the third United World Wrestling Ranking Series event of the year, held in Rome, Italy. Kayaalp claimed a 4–0 victory over Sabah Shariati from Azerbaijan in the 130 kg Greco-Roman division.^[32] Kayaalp beat Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran in men's Greco-Roman 130 kg at 2022 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Kayaalp bagged his fifth world championship as he won gold medal in men's Greco-Roman 120 kg at 2011 Istanbul and three golds in men's Greco-Roman 130 kg at 2015 Las Vegas, 2017 Paris and 2019 Nur-Sultan.^[33] He became the first Turkish wrestler to win the world championship for the 5th time.^[34] Kayaalp, said he had been battling a shoulder injury and other ailments over the past two months during his preparation for Belgrade. "Preparing for the World Championships with the injuries was very hard for me, especially in the last training camp it is very important to stay injury free," Kayaalp said. "I knew that the injuries will affect me in the final fight, so I changed my tactic a little bit. My defense is very good and we knew that."^[35]

In 2023, Rıza Kayaalp became European Champion for the 12th in Greco-Roman 130 kilogram at the 2023 European Wrestling Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Kayaalp, 33, defeated Sabah Shariati from Azerbaijan with a 2–1 result to win the gold medal in the Croatian capital Zagreb. He reached the final with 8–0 technical victories over Boris Petrusic of Serbia, Oskar Marvik of Norway and Mantas Knystautas of Lithuania. With this gold, Kayaalp equaled Aleksandr Karelin's record of 12 European gold medals.^[36][37] Kayaalp won the silver medal at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, in the final match of the men's 130 kg wrestling championships in the men's greco-roman style with a 1-1 draw against his Iranian rival Amin Mirzazadeh with 7 seconds to go and lost the match due to the last point advantage of his Iranian rival. Kayaalp defeated Egyptian Abdellatif Mohamed 7-2 in the second round match, Estonian Heiki Nabi 9-0 with technical superiority in the quarterfinal match and Chinese Meng Lingzhe 3-1 in the semifinal match. With this result, Kayaalp qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[38]

He won the silver medal in the 130 kg event at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania.^[39]

7 March 2025, the International Testing Agency announced that the Anti-Doping Chamber of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport has issued a 4-year ban to Kayaalp after a sample taken on 28 May 2024 was positive for the banned substance Trimetazidine. Effective 1 July 2024, he is banned from the sport for 4 years. His ban will expire on 30 June 2028. Kayaalp stated that they will appeal the decision and said, “I had a match. I was going to quit wrestling after the Olympics. I continue my struggle. After all, I am a man who retired from wrestling. We will appeal the decision. In the camp two and a half months before the Olympics, I used a medicine because my ear was ringing. That's why the punishment was given. The medicine doesn't help either. It is not a medicine that gives strength. We will appeal the decision of the Court of Arbitration for International Sport (CAS). My heart is at peace but my brain can't digest it. The sports life of such a career athlete cannot be hindered because of an ear medicine”.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Following the wrestler’s appeal, the Appeals Arbitration Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued a final ruling on 28 October 2025. The CAS panel confirmed the anti-doping rule violation and upheld the disqualification of all results obtained from 28 May 2024, but determined that the athlete did not act intentionally and that he bore No Significant Fault or Negligence. As a result, the period of ineligibility was reduced from four years to 18 months, running from 1 July 2024 and ending on 31 December 2025.^[44] On 4 November 2025, Kayaalp announced in a press conference that the CAS ruling effectively cleared him to return to competition from 1 January 2026. He described the process as a “1.5-year ordeal” and reiterated that the positive test resulted from prescribed medication used for tinnitus. Turkish Wrestling Federation President Taha Akgül welcomed the decision, praising Kayaalp’s long-standing clean record.^[45]

At the 2026 European Wrestling Championships in Tirana, Albania, Kayaalp won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 130 kg event by defeating Hungary's Dáriusz Vitek 7–1 in the final, thereby becoming the first wrestler to win 13 European senior titles and surpassing Aleksandr Karelin's long-standing record of 12 continental gold medals.^[46][47]

• Taha Akgül