Taner Sağır


Taner Sağır is a Turkish world and Olympic weightlifting champion. Coming into Athens as holder of all the junior world records at the age of only 19, he broke the Olympic records in the category -77 kg snatch, clean and jerk and total. He is seen as a great talent by authorities.

Early years

He was born in Bulgaria to parents of Turkish ethnicity. In 1989, the family emigrated to Turkey where they settled first in the Batıkent neighborhood of Yenimahalle, Ankara before later moving to Pursaklar, Ankara. In 1994, Taner began weightlifting in Pursaklar. Taner Sağır is the younger brother of Olympic weightlifter Nezir Sağır.

Sports career

Sağır, 1.70 m tall, is a student of physical education and sports. Muharrem Süleymanoğlu and Osman Nuri Vural coach him at the Demirspor Club in Ankara, Turkey.
As he is somewhat baby-faced, he was in a few commercials at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
He did not finish after three failures in the snatch event at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
He has not competed in a major event since 2008, owing to a spinal disc injury.

Family life

On August 30, 2008, he married Sibel Güler, a two-time European taekwondo champion and also an immigrant from Bulgaria. The couple has a child. The family resides in Ankara on a street named after him.

Medals

Olympics
RankDisciplineSnatchClean and jerkTotalPlaceDate
-77 kg172.5202.5375.0Athens, GREAug 19, 2004

World Championships
RankDisciplineSnatchClean and jerkTotalPlaceDate
-77 kg166.0195.0361.0Santo Domingo, DOMOct 3, 2006
J -77 kg160.0195.5 JWR355.0 JWRHermosillo, MEXJun 1, 2003

European Championships
RankDisciplineSnatchClean and jerkTotalPlaceDate
-77 kg167.5192.5360.0Sofia, BULApr 22, 2005
-77 kg167.5200.0367.5Kiev, UKRApr 20, 2004
J -69 kg147.5175.0322.5Havířov, CZEMay 29, 2002
Y -69 kgStavanger, NORJul 30, 2001
Y -59 kgKošice, SVKAug 24, 2000

2004 World ranking list for the category "Men 77 kg" is as following:
RankDisciplineSnatchClean and jerkTotalPlaceDate
1Taner Sağır, TUR172.5202.5375.0Athens, GREAug 19, 2004
2Sergey Filimonov, KAZ172.5200.0372.5Athens, GREAug 19, 2004
3Oleg Perepetchenov, RUS170.0195.0365.0Athens, GREAug 19, 2004