Şanlı bags silver in Euro Gymnastics Championships

MERSİN

Turkish athlete Göksu Üçtaş Şanlı won the silver medal in seniors’ floor in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics 2020 European Championships in the Mediterranean province of Mersin on Dec. 20.

Şanlı racked up a total of 13,100 points to come in second in the seniors final.

Romania’s Larisa Andreea Iordache won the gold medal with 13,450 points, and Israeli athlete Lihie Raz came in third with 12,750.

Şanlı bagging silver medal sensationalized social media across the country.

“We’re continuing to make history in Turkish sports. I congratulate Göksu Üçtaş Şanlı, who has blazed a trail as the winner of the silver medal at the European Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championship,” Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Kasapoğlu tweeted.

Turkish Gymnastics Federation and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu also congratulated the athlete on their official social media accounts.

The 30-year-old athlete has dedicated her medal to “all Turkish women.”

“I dedicate this award to strong Turkish women who resist all difficulties and to all mothers. This is our pride,” wrote Şanlı on Twitter, thanking people who helped her for years.

Born on Aug. 30, 1990, in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, Şanlı is the first athlete to have brought a medal home in the seniors’ floor category of the championship.

She achieved the second position in the 2009 Mediterranean Games, bagging a silver medal, followed by a bronze medal a year later when she competed in the 2010 World Cup in Doha.

The same year, she won one gold and two silver in the 2010 World Games, which were organized in Ostrava, the Czech Republic.

She also competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the first woman to have represented her homeland, Turkey, in the Olympics.

Due to her injuries, she took a break from gymnastics for some time.

“I have waited for this moment for so long,” wrote Şanlı on Twitter, referring to those days.

Photographs showing her waiting for the announcement of the results and her crying after bagging the silver medal received thousands of likes on social media by people rejoicing in her victory.