The Turkish Men’s Recurve Archery Team narrowly missed the chance to compete in the final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, losing to France by millimeters. However, they secured a historic bronze medal by defeating the People’s Republic of China in the third-place match, marking Turkey’s first team sports medal in Olympic history.
In their match against China, the Turkish archers won the first set 55-54. After losing the second set 57-56, the score was tied at 2-2. The Turkish team then won the third set 55-54 and the fourth set 57-54, achieving a 6-2 victory in sets and securing the bronze medal. This victory also became Turkey’s first medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Göktuğ Ergin: “Great Effort Behind This”
The team’s technical director, Göktuğ Ergin, expressed his happiness after the bronze medal win. Highlighting the excellent performance of the athletes, Ergin stated, “There is three years of great effort behind this success. After Mete Gazoz’s gold medal, winning a medal at the Olympics has become less of a myth for us. We have transformed into a structure that believes we can increase the number of medals with proper preparation. We have used the last three years very well, and the athletes have put in a tremendous effort during this time.”
Ergin added, “We lost to France by millimeters. But we had a special drive against China from the last World Championship. We used that to change the athletes’ mentality and boost their motivation. Thankfully, we succeeded.”
Mete Gazoz: “We Shot Arrows with Our Pulse at 180”
Olympic champion Mete Gazoz reflected on the challenging and lengthy day they had experienced. Before today’s matches, they assessed all their previous matches step by step. Gazoz stated, “At the end of this staircase, there was the podium, and we climbed it. It was a beautiful day. Our technical team made us experience everything we went through here during training, even more intensely. We had tougher training sessions where we shot arrows with our pulse at 180. Today, it wasn’t even that high. It was a fun and enjoyable day. We kept our minds and bodies under control. This medal was won in training, not just here.”
