Ediz Yıldırımer (; born 25 October 1993) is a Turkish

freestyle swimmer Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common ...

competing particularly in the 800 m and 1500 m events. He represented his country at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

without advancing to the final. With his age of 14, he was the youngest ever Turkish athlete to take part at the Olympics.

Early years

Born at Gölcük in

Kocaeli Province Kocaeli Province ( tr, Kocaeli ili, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometimes called Kocaeli. The province is the successor of the ...

, he began swimming at the age of six in

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

, where his family moved after the

1999 İzmit earthquake On the 17th of August, 1999 at 3:01 AM local time, a catastrophic magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Kocaeli Province of Turkey, causing monumental damage and 17,127–18,373 deaths. Named for the quakes proximity to the northeastern city of Izm ...

. He became there a member of Konya Firuze Swim Club, and was mentored in swimming techniques. Two years later, Yıldırımer returned to Kocaeli to join the cadets team.

Career

In 2003, Yıldırımer set a national record in 100 m freestyle of his age category at the Turkish Swimming Championships that was his first competition at national level. He accepted a scholarship offer from Tim Bauer,

The Woodlands Swim Team The Woodlands Swim Team (TWST) is a swim club based out of The Woodlands, Texas. The team has sent twenty-five swimmers to the Olympic trials, holds numerous TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming) records, and has won 39 of 50 TAGS state championships ...

's head coach. In 2009, he went to the United States as a foreign exchange student, and continued his high school education there. He graduated 2012 from the John Cooper School in

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with por ...

. During this time, he was a member of the school team and set many records and reached to a lot of swimming accomplishments. Yıldırımer won the gold medal in the 800 m event and the bronze medal in the 1500 m at the

2010 European Junior Swimming Championships The 2010 European Junior Swimming Championships were held from 14 to 18 July 2010 in Helsinki, Finland.Finland 2010
(www ...

held in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 2011, he repeated the same success at the European Junior Championships held in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. He was invited to participate in the

1500 m freestyle Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

event at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Achievements

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yildirimer, Ediz 1993 births Living people Turkish male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for Turkey Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics People from Gölcük Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Georgia Bulldogs men's swimmers Turkish expatriate swimmers in the United States Swimmers at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Turkey Competitors at the 2015 Summer Universiade 21st-century Turkish people Islamic Solidarity Games bronze medalists for Turkey