Furkan Akar (born 6 March 2002) is a Turkish Olympian

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

. He is the first representative of

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

at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

. He is also the first and only Turkish athlete placed in "Top 10" at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

by finishing 6th in the 1000-meter event at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

held in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Akar finished third (1:34.780) and gained a bronz medal in the 2023 European Championship 1000 metres race, a first for Turkey.

Early years

Furkan Akar was born in

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

, Turkey on 6 March 2002. He started motivated performing winter sportby his brother while he was watching him in training. At age of nine, he began skiing. He is a student of Sport coaching in the Sport Science Faculty at

Atatürk University Atatürk University ( tr, Atatürk Üniversitesi) is a land-grant university established in 1957 in Erzurum, Turkey. The university consists of 23 faculties, 18 colleges, 8 institutes and 30 research centers. Atatürk University's main campus i ...

in Erzurum.

Sports career

Akar competes in

with the license of Erzurum G.S.İ.M. He has been in the national team since 2015. He took the bronze medal in the Boys' 500m and the silver medal in the 1500m event at the

2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival The 2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival ( bs, Evropski zimski olimpijski festival mladih 2019) was held in Sarajevo & Istočno Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 10 to 15 February 2019. The event had initially been planned to be held ...

held in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He participated in the Men's 1000m event at the 2021–22 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, where he ranked 17th. He won a place at the

, China. He was named flagbearer along with

Ayşenur Duman Ayşenur Duman (born 1 March 1999) is a Turkish female Olympian cross-country skier. Early life Ayşenur Duman was born in Peçenek village of Çamlıdere district of Ankara Province, Turkey. She lives in Gerede, Bolu Province. She is a stude ...

at the opening ceremony of the

. He competed in the short track speed skating 1000m event, and finished the Final B in second place with 1:36.052. He ranked 6th in total.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akar, Furkan 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Erzurum Atatürk University alumni Olympic short track speed skaters of Turkey Turkish male short track speed skaters Short track speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Competitors at the 2023 Winter World University Games

Early years

Sports career

See also

References