,  By  T-VINE

Paris 2024: Mete Gazoz and Busenaz Sürmeneli fly the flag for Türkiye at Opening Ceremony

Friday’s Opening Ceremony marks the start of the Paris Summer Olympic Games – the world’s largest sporting event. Over the next two weeks, more than 10,700 athletes will participate in 329 events across 32 sports, with the Games concluding on 11 August.

Among them will be 102 Turks – 54 women and 48 men – competing in 18 different sports: archery, artistic gymnastics, athletics, badminton, boxing, fencing, judo, modern pentathlon, road cycling, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.

Among the Turkish competitors in Paris are two reigning Olympic Champions, archer Mete Gazoz and boxer Busenaz Sürmeneli, who are the flagbearers for Türkiye at the Opening Ceremony.

Three years ago, Türkiye took 108 athletes to the 2020 Olympics, which were delayed by a year due to Covid. Yet the Tokyo Games turned out to be their best ever Olympics for medals, with the team winning 13 medals between them: two gold, two silver, and nine bronze.

Their medals haul took Türkiye to 35th on the Medals Table. The table’s top 3 were the USA (113 medals), China (88 medals), and hosts Japan in third with 58 medals.

Türkiye’s previous best was at the 1948 London Olympics, where its athletes won a total of 12 medals: 6 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze.

In 2020, the best sports for Türkiye in Tokyo were karate, while they faltered in wrestling where several favourites came away with bronze instead of the anticipated gold medals.

Oldest, youngest Olympians

Türkiye’s youngest Olympian in Paris will be 16-year-old swimmer Kuzey Tunçelli, who will compete in three races: Men’s 800m freestyle, Men’s 1500m freestyle and the Men’s 10km Marathon.

At 51 years old, pistol shooter Yusuf Dikeç will be Türkiye’s oldest and most experienced Olympian. Paris marks the veteran marksman’s fifth Olympic Games, having participated in the Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo Games.

This will also be sailor Deniz Çınar’s fifth Olympics, with four Turkish sportsmen participating in their fourth Games.

On the flip side, Kuzey Tunçelli and 52 other Turkish athletes will be making their Olympics debut in Paris. High jumper Buse Savaşkan is also an Olympic debutant.

Turkish Cypriot high-jumper Buse Savaşkan

Due to the Greek Cypriot-imposed embargoes on Buse’s homeland of North Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriot athlete has had to take up Turkish nationality to compete internationally.

Buse has had a great season, setting multiple personal bests as well as breaking Turkiye’s indoor high jump record with a career-best jump of 1.91 metres at a High Jump event in Wuppertal, Germany. The previous record of 1.90 metres, set by Candeğer Kılınçer in 2002, had stood for 22 years.

Look out for Buse in the Women’s High Jump competition, which  starts next Friday, 2 August. Those making it through the Qualification round will proceed to the High Jump Final two days later.

Sultans of the Net

Also in Paris are Turkiye’s Women’s Volleyball Team. The Sultans of the Net will be hoping to add an Olympic Medal to their European title, which they won last year.

Grouped in Pool C, they will be in action on Monday, 28 July against the Netherlands, followed by Dominican Republic on Thursday, 1 August, concluding their preliminary round with a match against Italy on Sunday, 4 August. The Women’s Volleyball Quarterfinals start on Tuesday, 6 August.