Haydar Aşan


Haydar Aşan was a Turkish-American Olympic sprinter. He competed in the men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
He also competed as a high jumper, pole vaulter, and professional football player. As a teenager he competed in local athletic championships and began amateur boxing. In 1924, at age 18 he joined the professional Fenerbahçe football team, a year later he changed to the Galatasaray football team and stayed there for ten years. In 1931 and 1932, Aşan won second place in the Balkan Athletics Championships. In 1933, he won first place, which was the first time in history Turkey won the gold medal in athletics at the Balkan Athletics Championships. In 1938, he moved to the United States and studied graduate school at Duke University. He played on the school's soccer team and became an American citizen. Haydar married an American veteran nurse and had two daughters.