Halil Mutlu

Halil Mutlu

Personal information
Nationality	Turkish
Born	(1973-07-14) July 14, 1973 (age 43) Postnik, Momchilgrad municipality, Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria
Height	1.50 m (4 ft 11 in)
Sport
Country	Turkey
Sport	Weightlifting
Medal record Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta –54 kg 2000 Sydney –56 kg 2004 Athens –56 kg World Championships 1994 Istanbul –54 kg 1998 Lahti – 56 kg 1999 Athens –56 kg 2001 Antalya –56 kg 2003 Vancouver –62 kg 1993 Melbourne –54 kg 1995 Guangzhou –54 kg European Championships 1994 Sokolov –54 kg 1995 Warsaw –54 kg 1996 Stavanger –54 kg 1997 Rijeka –54 kg 1999 La Coruña –56 kg 2000 Sofia –56 kg 2001 Trencin –56 kg 2003 Loutraki –62 kg 2005 Sofia –62 kg 2008 Lignano Sabbiadoro –56 kg 1991 Wladyslawowo –52 kg 1992 Szekszard –52 kg

Halil Mutlu (born Halil Aliev (Bulgarian: Халил Алиев) on July 14, 1973 in Postnik, Bulgaria) is a professional Turkish weightlifter with several World and Olympic championships. Mutlu is one of the four weightlifters achieving three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games. His weightlifting career includes five World championships, nine European championships and more than 20 world records at 52 kg (115 lb), 54 kg (119 lb) and 56 kg (123 lb) combined.

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 52 kg category and finished fifth. In 1996, in the 54 kg 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 7.5 kg. At the 1999 World Championships he beat silver medal winner Adrian Jigău by around 20 kg 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 17.5 kg in the 56 kg category.

He was suffering from a shoulder injury in 2003 and temporarily moved to the 62 kg 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. 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 Wu Meijin of China by 5 kg in the snatch and then extended his lead in the jerk to earn victory by 7.5 kg. At 31, he captured his third consecutive gold medal at the Olympics in Athens.

In 2005, Mutlu was banned from international competition by the International Weightlifting Federation for 2 years for use of anabolic steroid Nandrolone, although he insists that he never knowingly took steroids. The Turkish Weightlifting Federation itself had been suspended by the IWF for "repeated anti-doping violations" until May 2006. He pulled out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics stating that he was not able to "lift my targeted weight in practice." As a penalty, he was expelled from the ASKI.

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