"It's a sad day for weightlifting," Hasan Akkus, the president of the Turkish weightlifting federation and general secretary of the European weightlifting federation, told Reuters. "Naim was a phenomenal athlete."
Bulgaria-born Suleymanoglu won three Olympic titles in the 60-kg and 64-kg categories between 1988 and 1996, competing for Turkey and seven world titles, competing for Bulgaria and Turkey.
After retiring, Suleymanoglu was an unsuccessful candidate in Turkey's general election on two occasions.
(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov, editing by Ed Osmond)
