Halil Mutlu (born Huben Hubenov on July 14, 1973 in Postnik, Bulgaria) is a Turkish World and Olympic Champion in weightlifting. He won three Olympic Championships, five World Championships, eight European Championships and broke more than 20 world records at 52kg, 54kg and 56kg combined.

Only 1.50 meters tall, Mutlu followed in the footsteps of his compatriot weightlifter Naim Süleymanoğlu. Like his idol, Mutlu grew up a member of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, profited from excellent coaching there and then defected to Turkey, where he took a new name ("Mutlu" means happy in Turkish). Arriving at the age of 16, he soon began setting records and winning titles for his new country.

Mutlu is single and, is living in Ankara, Turkey since the early 90's. He is member of Konya Kombassan Club in Konya and is coached by Ibrahim Elmali. Beside weightlifting, Mutlu enjoys wrestling.

Career

In 1994, he won both the European and world championships, titles that would soon become commonplace for him. He made his first Olympic appearance in 1992 in the 52kg category and finished fifth. In 1996, in the 54kg category, the reigning world champion and world record holder, Mutlu broke the world record in the snatch and went on to win the gold medal by 7.5kg. At the 1999 World Championships he beat silver medal winner Adrian Ioan Jigau by around 20kg and set a new world record. He remained undefeated until the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where he was even more dominant than he had been in Atlanta. This time he set world records in both the snatch and the clean and jerk and won by 17.5kg in the 56kg category.

He was suffering from a shoulder injury in 2003 and temporarily moved to the 62kg class. His career appeared in doubt after a torn right rotator cuff and ruptured biceps tendon sidelined him for most of 2002.

Mutlu dominated in his weight class since mid 1990s. But prior to Athens, several experts became skeptical that Mutlu would be able to pass his younger and more aggressive opponents at the Olympics in 2004. By the time of the Athens Olympics in 2004, Mutlu won the world championship five times, although he had missed the 2002 season because of injury. In Athens he out lifted Meijin Wu of China by 5kg in the snatch and then extended his lead in the jerk to earn victory by 7.5kg. At 31, he captured his third consecutive gold medal at the Olympics in Athens and announced that he is ready to challenge his opponents at the next Beijing Olympics in 2008.

His idol

Mutlu is nicknamed the "Little Dynamo", but is called also "Little Naim" because Naim Süleymanoğlu was his idol and, for some time, his coach in weightlifting. It is said that Mutlu even imitates Süleymanoğlu by walking with his hands in his pockets. In fact, there are many similarities in the biographies of both Suleymanoglu and Mutlu.

Both are ethnic Turks who were born and grew up in Bulgaria, a country famous for its world-class lifters. Both moved to Turkey. However, unlike Süleymanoğlu who entered the international weightlifting arena representing Bulgaria, Mutlu relocated to Turkey at an early age in his career. Both became legends of weightlifting while competing in lighter weight classes. And of course, both won three Olympic gold medals. Despite many similarities with Süleymanoğlu, Mutlu is an outstanding lifter of his own merit. He proved to be a unique athlete in terms of his technical skills and competitive spirit. Due to personal charisma and success in sports Mutlu is considered a successor of legendary "Pocket Hercules" Naim Süleymanoğlu.

Highlights

• World junior champion (1993),
• Five-time world champion (2003, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1994 - 1st; 1995, 1993 - 2nd.),
• Eight-time European champion (2001),
• Only fourth weightlifter to win three Olympic gold medals.
• Virtually unchallenged since 1996; no active lifter has beaten Mutlu in a world-class event,
• Named as the "Sportsman of the year 1999" in Turkey,
• He is one of four men in history to lift three times his bodyweight,
• As a winner of three Olympic gold medals, Halil Mutlu definitely belongs to the all-time pantheon of the best Olympic weightlifters.

Quote

Mutlu: "Gold is something you can never have enough!".

Medals

Olympics

World Championships

CWR: Current world record WR: World record

World rank

2004 World ranking list for the category "Men 56 kg" is as following:

External links

• http://www.iwf.net/ International Weightlifting Federation