Pocket Hercules dies at 50

Istanbul : Turkey’s legendary triple Olympics gold medallist weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, the diminutive “pocket Hercules,” has died aged 50, state media said.
Suleymanoglu, only 1.47m (4.8 feet) tall, scored a historic hat-trick of consecutive Olympics titles starting in Seoul in 1988 then Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.
The Bulgarian-born Suleymanoglu, who had in late September been admitted to intensive care after suffering liver failure, died in hospital in Istanbul.
The weightlifter had been given a liver transplant earlier this month after a suitable donor was found and initial reports had said that the surgery was successful. Suleymanoglu’s exploits made him a national hero in Turkey, where he is regarded as one of the greatest sports personalities in the country’s history. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had visited Suleymanoglu in hospital and received the news while delivering a speech to supporters, expressed his condolences on live television over Suleymanoglu’s death. “He was the pocket Hercules who broke 46 records. He was a sportsman who won the hearts not just of the Turkish people but the world,” the head of the Turkish weightlifting federation Tamer Taspinar said.