Med Games come to an end

ISTANBUL

An athlete competes in the ongoing 17th Mediterranean Games, set to come to an end on June 30 in Mersin. AA photo

The end of the 17th Mediterranean Games is in sight as the event approaches its final day Sunday, June 30, 10 days after its opening ceremony.

Italy leads the teams in the medal count, with 54 gold medals, 42 silver and 52 bronze in its track record. Turkey follows Italy with 33 gold, 33 silver and 28 bronze medals with France taking the third spot with 22 gold medals, 19 silver and 34 bronze.

The event hosted over 4,000 athletes during its ten day run, with over 24 countries competing for the winning spot in various events, making it one of Turkey’s biggest sports events Turkey has ever hosted.

Syria, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Lebanon were the last four countries, and have not received any gold medals so far.

The event even welcomed a new record, as Greek Konstantinos Baniotis broke the Games’ record with his impressive 2.34 meters jump in the men’s high jumping, taking home the gold medal. The previous record, at 2.30, belonged to Greek Cyprus’s athlete Kyriakos Ioannou.

Another record came from the Turkish Ramil Guliyev, who outdid the national record for the men’s 100-meter race, breaking the previous 10.37 seconds with his 10.23. Guliyev took home the silver medal as Turkish Tanui Özbilen and Polat Kemboi Arıkan received gold medals for their performance at the men’s 1,500 meters and 10,000 meters finals respectively.

The Games were seen as a vital step toward Istanbul’s Olympic candidacy for the Games of 2020, as all offices of government showed efforts to ensure success.