102 athletes to represent Türkiye in Paris Olympics

ISTANBUL

First female rowing athlete to represent Türkiye in the Olympic games, Elis Özbay, is intensely training for the competitions.

A total of 102 sportspersons representing Türkiye in 18 different branches will compete with all their might to strike gold for the country in the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Paris between July 26 and Aug. 11.

As the countdown has started for the 2024 Olympic games, the names and branches of the participating athletes have been announced, along with the quotas for the branches.

A total of 102 athletes, 48 of whom are men and 54 of whom are women, will represent Türkiye in the games. This marks the second time that the number of female sportspeople has exceeded that of male athletes in the history of the nation, the first incident occurring in the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

The athletes will compete in shooting, athletics, badminton, cycling, boxing, artistic gymnastics, fencing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, rowing, table tennis, modern pentathlon, archery, taekwondo, volleyball, swimming and sailing.

While the number of sportspersons representing Türkiye in athletics sees the peak with 16 — six female and 10 male athletes — the country has only one representative each in badminton, cycling, rowing, table tennis and weightlifting.

The Women's National Volleyball Team, famously known as "Sultans of the Net," will also be present in the 2024 Olympic Games to represent the country as the Turkish Volleyball Federation has revealed the 13-person lineup.

The team, having their first Olympics experience in London 2012 and coming in fifth place in Tokyo 2020, will compete to win their first medal in their third Olympic experience.

Yusuf Dikeç, the most experienced Olympic shooter ever since he has competed in shooting at the Olympics for the fifth time straight since Beijing 2008, will represent Türkiye in the sport once again.

Yasmani Copello, the bronze medal winner from Rio 2016 in athletics, is returning to the games for a third time while Eda Tuğsuz, placing fourth in javelin throw in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will also be part of the athletics team.

Busenaz Sürmeneli, making history as the first female boxer to strike gold at an Olympic Games, and silver medal winner boxer Buse Naz Çakıroğlu will also represent Türkiye in the games this year.

Enver Yıldırım will be the first fencing representative after the 1972 Munich Olympics in terms of swordsmanship, while Nisanur Erbil will be making her Olympic debut as the first-ever female athlete to compete in the country’s swordsmanship history.

In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Türkiye won two gold medals in archery and boxing for the first time, while the 1960 Roma Olympics marks the most successful Olympics of the country in terms of wrestling with 7 golden medals. The country has 41 golden medals in total in wrestling, weightlifting, archery, boxing, judo and taekwondo in its Olympics history.