Yasemin Adar Yiğit (born 6 December 1991) is a Turkish retired freestyle wrestler competing in the 76 kg division. She is a two time world (2017, 2022) and seven time European (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024) champion. She also won one of the bronze medals in the women's 76 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Personal life Adar was born to Naim Adar, a baker, and Ayşegül in Balıkesir, Turkey on 6 December 1991. She has an elder sister, Yıldız. Her mother died in 2013. After finishing Gaziosmanpaşa High School, she studied physical education and sports in Balıkesir University. Currently, she works as a teacher in Niğde. On September 26, 2021, she married Erdem Yiğit.
Sports career Adar was discovered by former Turkish champion sport wrestler Aslan Seyhanlı while she was performing shot put during her high school and university years. She then switched over to wrestling in her hometown. She competes for Trakya Birlik SK.
Adar took part in the freestyle −72 kg event at the 2012 World Championships in Strathcona County, Alberta, Canada, gaining no success.
She participated at the 2013 European Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, without having success. At the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey, she became gold medalist in the −72 kg division. She placed fifth at the 2013 World Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, after losing to Chinese Zhang Fengliu in the semifinals and to American Adeline Gray in the third place match.
Adar reached the round of 16 at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
She failed to advance to the finals after losing to Russian Ekaterina Bukina in the −75 kg event at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. She then lost to Moldavian Svetlana Saenko in the bronze medal match. At the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, United States, Adar lost in the quarter-finals to Colombian Andrea Olaya by fall.
Competing in the −75 kg event at the 2016 European Championships held in Riga, Latvia, she won her country's first-ever women's wrestling gold medal at this championship, defeating Russian Alena Storodubtseva.
In 2020, she won the silver medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia. In March 2021, she competed at the European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary hoping to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She was eliminated in her second match by Martina Kuenz of Austria. In May 2021, she qualified at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament to represent Turkey at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
She won the gold medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. A few months later, she won the gold medal in the 76 kg event at the 2022 Mediterranean Games held in Oran, Algeria. Yasemin Adar beat Egypt’s Samar Amer 6-0 in women's freestyle 76 kg at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, scoring her second gold in the tournament.
In 2023, Yasemin Adar won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 76 category at the 2023 European Wrestling Championships in Zagreb. Yasemin Adar won the quarterfinal against Romanian Catalina Axente with a 10-0 with technical superiority. Then, in the semifinals, she won 14-4 with technical superiority against Ukrainian Anastasia Osniach and reached the final. Yasemin Adar competed against Austrian Martina Kuenz in the final. While the competitive match ended 2-2, Adar won the match with advantage points and became the European champion for the 6th time.
She won the gold medal in the 76kg event at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania. She defeated Anastasiia Osniach of Ukraine in her gold medal match. She competed at the 2024 European Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan and she earned a quota place for Turkey for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
She competed in the women's 76kg event at the Olympics. She defeated Canadian Justina Di Stasio 8-2 in the first round of the women's freestyle 76 kg wrestling competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris, France. She lost 3-0 to Japanese Yuka Kagami in the quarterfinals. He qualified for the repechage when his opponent reached the final. She lost 3-1 to Ecuadorian Génesis Reasco in the repechage match and finished eighth in the Olympics.
In 2025, Adar won the silver medal in the 76kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Bratislava, Slovakia. After bypassing the first round she reached the final by pinning Italian Enrica Rinaldi in the quarterfinals with a 4-0 lead and defeating Austrian Martina Kuenz 2-1 in the semifinals. She lost 6-0 to Ukrainian Anastasiya Alpyeyeva in the final match and won the silver medal. After the final match, she took off her shoes on the mat and ended her active wrestling career at the age of 33.
Achievements YearTournamentVenueResultEvent2012European Championships Belgrade, Serbia15thFreestyle 72 kgMediterranean Championships Larissa, Greece1stFreestyle 72 kgWorld Championships Strathcona County, Canada5thFreestyle 72 kg2013European Championships Tbilisi, Georgia10thFreestyle 72 kgMediterranean Games Mersin, Turkey1stFreestyle 72 kgWorld Championships Budapest, Hungary5thFreestyle 72 kg2014European Championships Vantaa, Finland9thFreestyle 75 kgWorld Championships Tashkent, Uzbekistan9thFreestyle 75 kg2015European Games Baku, Azerbaijan5thFreestyle 75 kgWorld Championships Las Vegas, United States10thFreestyle 75 kg2016European Championships Riga, Latvia1stFreestyle 75 kgOlympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil8thFreestyle 75 kg2017European Championships Novi Sad, Serbia1stFreestyle 75 kgIslamic Solidarity Games Baku, Azerbaijan1stFreestyle 75 kgWorld Championships Paris, France1stFreestyle 75 kg2018European Championships Kaspiysk, Russia1stFreestyle 76 kgWorld Championships Budapest, Hungary2ndFreestyle 76 kg2019European Championships Bucharest, Romania1stFreestyle 76 kg2020European Championships Rome, Italy2ndFreestyle 76 kg2021Summer Olympics Tokyo, Japan3rdFreestyle 76 kg 2022European Championships Budapest, Hungary1stFreestyle 76 kgMediterranean Games Oran, Algeria 1stFreestyle 76 kgWorld Championships Belgrade, Serbia 1stFreestyle 76 kg2023European Championships Zagreb, Croatia1stFreestyle 76 kg2024European Championships Bucharest, Romania1stFreestyle 76 kgOlympic Games Paris, France8thFreestyle 76 kg2025European Championships Bratislava, Slovakia2ndFreestyle 76 kg
Filmography Web shows Year Title Role Notes 2025 Physical: Asia Contestant Team Turkey
References
External links
Yasemin Adar Yigit at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics (archived, alternate link)