Young athlete becomes first female swimmer bagging gold in Med Games

ISTANBUL

Merve Tuncel has bagged a gold medal in the 19th Mediterranean Games, making her the first female swimmer to succeed in a Mediterranean Games.

The 17-year-old freestyle swimmer finished the 800-meter race with a time of 8:26.80 on July 2.

Deniz Ertan, another swimmer, achieved a silver medal in the same contest.

Born on Jan. 1, 2005, in the capital Ankara, Tuncel started swimming when she was just 4 years old.

Tuncel won the silver medal in the 200m butterfly and the bronze medal in the 800m freestyle at the 2019 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan. She broke the juniors world record at Istanbul, Türkiye, on Dec. 22, 2020, in the short course 1500m freestyle swimming event with a time of 15:45.29. She won gold medals in the events 400m, 800m, 1500m, and the bronze medal in the 4×200m freestyle relay event of the 2021 European Junior Swimming Championships in Rome, Italy.

Tuncel was the flag bearer for Türkiye, together with Berke Saka, at the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.