Rıfat Çalışkan first played basketball whilst in school in Turkey before choosing to become a cyclist in 1961. Just one year later Çalışkan was part of the national team that competed at the UCI Road World Championships in Italy. By 1966 he had rode at five editions of the World Championships, becoming the first Turkish cyclist to do so. Çalışkan enjoyed success at both the Tour of Bulgaria and the Tour of Yugoslavia, but it was back home where he dominated, winning the Tour of Turkey in both 1963 and 1965, as well as a dozen stages of the race during his career. In 1971 he won bronze in the team pursuit at the Mediterranean Games before riding in the road race at the München Olympics one year later. After his cycling career Çalışkan worked as coach in the city of Bursa.
Türkiye