Ekrem Boyalı (born 15 July 1970) is an Olympian Turkish former

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

practitioner and coach.

Early years and family life

Ekrem Boyalı was born on 15 July 1970 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 ...

, Turkey. In 1998, Boyalı went to the United States to complete his university education. Upon returning home after three years, he was appointed a lecturer at

Selçuk University Selçuk University ( tr, Selçuk Üniversitesi) is a state-owned higher educational institution which was founded 1975 in Konya, Turkey. It is one of the largest universities in Turkey with a student body of 63,000 of which 2,200 are foreign stu ...

. In 2009, he earned a

PhD degree A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Exercise physiology from the Institute of Health Science at

with a thesis on "The effect of

vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vi ...

application on the levels of lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes and lactate during acute Taekwondo exercise". He is married with Ayşegül Ergin, also a world and European championship medalist.

Sports career

He began with Taekwondo following the footsteps of his older brother Osman Boyalı in 1983. After four years of hard training at his brother's sports club, he was admitted to the national team. Later, he became captain of the Turkey team. At the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, he competed for

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, and became the runner-up after losing to Kim Byong-Cheol from South Korea in the final game. The Taekwondo competitions were held as demonstration sport, and therefore no medals were awarded. Boyalı served as coach of the Turkey national team after leaving the active sport. Later, he coached the Bulgaria national team.

Achievements

* 1988 European Championships –

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, Turkey −54 kg (youth) * 1990 European Championships – Aarhus, Denmark −54 kg * 1991 World Cup –

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, Croatia −58 kg * 1991 World Championships –

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece −58 kg * 1992 European Championships –

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain −64 kg * 1992 Pre-Olympian Games –

, Spain −64 kg * 1994 World Cup –

George Town, Cayman Islands George Town is the capital and largest city in the Cayman Islands, located on Grand Cayman. , the city had a population of 34,921, making it the largest city (by population) of all the British Overseas Territories. George Town is the heart o ...

, United Kingdom −64 kg * 1996 European Championships –

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finland −64 kg * 1997 World Championships –

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, British Hong Kong −64 kg

References

1970 births Sportspeople from Konya Turkish male taekwondo practitioners Turkish martial artists Olympic taekwondo practitioners of Turkey Taekwondo practitioners at the 1992 Summer Olympics Turkish sports coaches Selçuk University alumni Academic staff of Selçuk University Living people European Taekwondo Championships medalists World Taekwondo Championships medalists 21st-century Turkish people {{Turkey-taekwondo-bio-stub