Bengisu Avcı (born 1996) is a Turkish

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

specializing in

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. The beginning of the modern age of open water human swimming, swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when L ...

. She is holder of the ''

Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of three historically important swims: #The English Channel, 33 km between France and England #The Catalina Channel, 32.5 km between Catalina Island an ...

''. As of February 2024, she completed four of the

Oceans Seven The Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. It was devised in 2008 as the swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. It includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Mo ...

swims.

Sport career

Avcı started her swimming career at age six in the Ege University Swim Club. In 2011, she was admitted to the national team, where she was a member until 2015. She switched over to

marathon swimming Marathon swimming is a class of open water swimming defined by long distances (at least ) and traditional rules based in English Channel swimming. Unlike marathon foot-races which have a specifically defined distance, ''marathon swims'' vary in ...

with the recommendation of her coach in the Ege University Swim Club in 2013. In the beginning, she competed in the 3K and 5K, later in the 7.5K and 10K distances. She works as a swimming coach. In 2016, she swam within a Turkish group the distance from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

Island in the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

in Italy. In 2017, Avcı attempted to swim the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, which she had to give up after seven hours due to

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...

in the water. On 3 August the next year, she swam the same course of from England to

Cap Gris-Nez Cap Gris-Nez (literally "cape grey nose"; ) is a cape on the Côte d'Opale in the Pas-de-Calais ''département'' in northern France. The 'Cliffs of the Cape' is the closest point of France to England – from their English counterparts at Do ...

, France in a time of 11:29. She became the second Turkish woman and the youngest in Turkey. On 5-6 September 2022, she took up the

series by swimming the -long

Catalina Channel Santa Catalina Island ( xgf, Pimuu'nga or ; es, Isla Santa Catalina) is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island name is often shortened to Catalina Island or just Catalina. The island is l ...

between Santa Catalina Island and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, United States in a time of 11:59 as the first Turkish woman. The next year, she swam around the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Island,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States, also known as the 20 Bridges Swim. She was awarded the ''

'' by the

World Aquatics FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

. She became the first Turkish woman to receive this title. On 8 August 2023, in the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, she swam the -long course between the historic ANZAC Cove and the island

Gökçeada Imbros or İmroz Adası, officially Gökçeada (lit. ''Heavenly Island'') since 29 July 1970,Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), ''Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1 ...

in the northern

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

together with Murat Öz in a time of 10:36. Also in August 2023, she swam the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

between Europe and Africa. She completed the fourth swim of the Oceans Seven with the -long

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A H, ...

swim between New Zealand’s North and South Islands on 13 February 2024. For her fifth swim of the Oceans Seven series, she tried to cross the around -long

Kaiwi Channel In an archipelago like the Hawaiian Islands the water between islands is typically called a '' channel'' or ''passage''. Described here are the channels between the islands of Hawaiʻi, arranged from northwest to southeast. Kaulakahi Channel ...

, also known as the Molokaʻi Channel, between the islands

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

and

Molokai Molokai , or Molokai (), is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its greatest length an ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, United States. On 13 May 2024, she started from Molokai Island in the evening hours, and swam through the night. Twelve hours into the swim, in the last hours before the finish, she came repeadly into contact with

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

and pieces of moss. She ignored the burning from the contact, however, after an intense burning, possibly from a contact with a

man o' war Man o' War (March 29, 1917 – November 1, 1947) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is widely regarded as the greatest racehorse of all time. Several sports publications, including ''The Blood-Horse'', ''Sports Illustrated'', ESPN, and ...

, a jellyfish-like

siphonophorae Siphonophorae (from Greek ''siphōn'' 'tube' + ''pherein'' 'to bear') is an order within Hydrozoa, which is a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. According to the World Register of Marine Species, the order contains 175 specie ...

or with a

box jellyfish Box jellyfish (class Cubozoa) are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like (i.e. cube-shaped) body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom delivered by contact with their tentacles. Stings from some species, including '' ...

, she had to give up and get onto the escorting boat. It was reported that her health was in good condition. Avcı is nicknamed "Okyanus Kızı" ("Daughter of Ocean").

Personal life

Avcı was born to Hüseyin and Meserret Avcı in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

in 1996. She studied

sports coaching A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hung ...

in the Sports Science Faculty of

Ege University Ege University or Aegean University ( tr, Ege Üniversitesi) is a public research university in Bornova, İzmir. It was founded in 1955 with the faculties of Medicine and Agriculture. It is the first university to start courses in İzmir and the ...

in İzmir.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avci, Bengisu 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from İzmir 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Turkish female long-distance swimmers Ege University alumni Turkish sports coaches English Channel swimmers Manhattan Island swimmers Cook Strait swimmers

Sport career

Personal life

See also

References