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Eight years after his passing, Türkiye has enshrined Naim Süleymanoğlu’s legacy by transforming his childhood home in Bulgaria into a museum that traces the remarkable rise of one of the most dominant weightlifters in history.
The restored stone house, where the boy who would become the “Pocket Hercules” first began shaping his strength and identity, opened Tuesday with a ceremony attended by Turkish ministers, community leaders and thousands of visitors from Türkiye and Bulgaria’s Turkish minority.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) oversaw the project, working closely with the Süleymanoğlu family to collect original belongings, medals, photographs and rare memorabilia.
The idea first took form in 2021 and full restoration began in 2023.
Later additions were stripped away to reveal the home’s original Rhodope character – natural stone walls, traditional wooden doors and hand-crafted ceilings.
The two-story structure, now surrounded by a 390-square-meter courtyard, stands as both a historic landmark and a cultural tribute to a community that endured decades of forced assimilation.
Story told through walls
The museum unfolds in two chapters mirroring Süleymanoğlu’s life.
The ground floor recreates the daily rhythms of the Süleymanoğlu household during Naim’s early years, using original household items, woven kilims, wooden chests and hearth tools to evoke rural Turkish family life in 1970s Bulgaria.
Silicone figures of his parents, Hatice and Süleyman and their children bring an intimate atmosphere to the rooms where Naim lived from age four to fifteen.
Upstairs, the museum shifts into a narrative of athletic transformation.
One room captures the years he was forced to compete under the assimilated name “Naum Shalamanov,” displaying early medals, certificates, training objects, his primary school backpack and multimedia segments telling his story in his own voice.
An interactive children’s corner, themed around “Toy Naim,” highlights the boy who began lifting weights under political pressure and social hardship.
The next room celebrates the rebirth of Naim Süleymanoğlu after he defected to Türkiye in 1986.
A life-size silicone statue of the adult athlete anchors an exhibit filled with Olympic replicas, training barbells, tracksuits, shoes and official documents marking his rise as Türkiye’s most decorated weightlifter.
His State Superior Service Medal and other honors show how his escape not only changed his life but elevated Türkiye on the world sporting stage.
Second landmark
The same day, Turkish officials also inaugurated the new Kırcaali (Kardzhali) Central Mosque, Bulgaria’s only mosque built with a full külliye complex.
Supported by TİKA and Türkiye’s Religious Affairs Directorate, the center includes educational and community spaces and now serves as a key cultural hub for the region’s predominantly Turkish population.
Its opening alongside the museum highlighted the strengthening of cultural and religious ties between the two neighboring nations.
Legend behind the museum
Naim Süleymanoğlu was born in 1967 in Ptichar village near Momchilgrad.
He was discovered at nine and stunned coaches with a strength-to-weight ratio rarely seen at any age.
By fifteen, he was winning world junior titles and breaking world records, all while living under Bulgaria’s brutal “Revival Process,” which banned the Turkish language, forced name changes and targeted the community to which he belonged.
His defection in 1986 during the World Cup in Melbourne – facilitated by Turkish diplomats and approved after Türkiye paid Bulgaria roughly $1 million to clear his Olympic eligibility – marked a turning point.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he delivered a historic performance by clean-and-jerking 190 kilograms, more than three times his body weight.
Two more Olympic gold medals followed in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, making him the first weightlifter ever to win three consecutive Olympic titles.
Over his career, he set at least 46 senior world records, earned seven World Championship titles and seven European crowns, appeared on the cover of Time magazine and was widely celebrated as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Süleymanoğlu died on Nov. 18, 2017, at age 50 from complications tied to liver cirrhosis and a transplant. His funeral in Istanbul drew vast crowds, along with global tributes from former rivals, leaders and fans who had watched his once-in-a-generation brilliance.
