Erdoğan praises Olympic champ for promoting archery

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared 22-year-old Mete Gazoz, a recurve archer who bagged a gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, an “idol” at a dinner ceremony held at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.

“Mete has become an idol who will make archery to be loved by coming generations,” he said.

Erdoğan hosted all national athletes who got medals at the Tokyo Games late on Aug. 23.

Dealing with the athletes individually, Erdoğan paid attention to Gazoz in person, who sat near the president at the dinner ceremony.

In his address, the president mentioned the success of Gazoz, who brought the country’s first-ever Olympic medal in archery.

“I take a different approach to Mete. [Apart from his success] He became a young man carrying history to today,” the president said.

“You know, our ancestors stood out in archery. Now Mete has been an idol who will make new generations fall in love with archery,” he added.

Gazoz, who represented Turkey in the 2016 Rio Olympics, won the bronze medal in the 2017 World Archery Youth Champs in Argentina and claimed the silver medal in the 2018 World Indoor Archery Championships in the U.S.

He has also bagged a gold medal in the individuals 70-meters category in the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Spain.

In his address to the athletes, the president also announced the targets of the country in sports.

“We aim to carry our country further to better positions in sports branches we rarely participate in,” he underlined.

Thanking the athletes, the president went on to say, “At a harsh time when the country was fighting with the fire and flood disaster, you created an excitement in our people with your good news in Tokyo.”

Compared to all the Olympics games that Turkey has participated in so far since 1936, it is for the first time in the country’s history that it bagged the most number of medals with two gold, two silver and nine bronze medals at the Tokyo Games.

Other than archery, the country claimed its first Olympic medals in gymnastics and karate.

“Some five medals out of 13 were won by women athletes,” Erdoğan said, calling it a historical event.

The president also thanked the trainers of the athletes and reminded them that no success in life comes accidentally.

“Our Sports Ministry and the federation will evaluate the results of the Tokyo Games and analyze our strong and weak sides,” he said.

Setting a new target for the 2024 Paris Olympics, he said, “With the scope of the lessons we will learn from Tokyo, we will start the preparations for Paris. As we mounted our success in Tokyo compared to Rio, we will raise the bar in Paris compared to Tokyo.”