In just about five minutes on Tuesday, Rıza Kayaalp made it into wrestling history at the World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
With a 3-1 win over his Cuban opponent Oscar Pino Hinds at Barys Arena, Kayaalp became the first Turkish Greco-Roman wrestler to have won four world titles.
The 29-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler, competing in the 130-kilogram weight class, won the world titles in 2011, 2015 and 2017. He also won silver in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
With his latest title Kayaalp also surpassed wrestling greats Hamza Yerlikaya and Selçuk Çebi, who have three titles in Greco-Roman wrestling each. He also equalized Hüseyin Akbaş's record in freestyle wrestling.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who tweeted his photos watching the bout with former world champion Yerlikaya, was the first to congratulate Kayaalp as he spoke on the phone with the wrestler as soon as he stepped off the mat after the match.
Soon after, the president shared two pictures of him watching the match in his office at the Beştepe Presidential Palace Complex in a tweet. "I congratulate our national wrestler Rıza Kayaalp from the heart for making us proud once again by winning the gold medal for the fourth time at the World Wrestling Championships." Erdoğan wrote.
Kayaalp challenged Germany's Eduard Popp in the semifinals and after a 1-0 victory in the first round, he breezed past Popp with a 4-1 bout and secured a spot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
With the victory, Turkey completed its Greco-Roman competitions in the world championships with one gold and one bronze.
