Mehmet Çekiç (born 1 January 1970) is a Turkish

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

who competes in the LW4 disability class of men's

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

, standing and

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

, standing events. He represented his country, Turkey, at the 2014 Sochi and 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics.

Private life

Mehmet Çekiç was born on 1 January 1970. He graduated from the

University of Upper Alsace University of Upper Alsace (french: Université de Haute-Alsace, UHA) is a multidisciplinary teaching and research centre based in the two cities of Mulhouse and Colmar, France. Research and teaching at UHA concentrates mainly on science, technolog ...

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

, France. He lives in France, where he owns and manages a butchers and grocery shop in

Barr, Bas-Rhin Barr (; in Alsatian ''Borr'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in the Alsace region of north-eastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Barrois'' or ''Barroises''. The commune has been awarded "three flowers" by the Na ...

, France. He has one son. In 2009, he was involved in a motorcycle accident, which resulted in his disability after his leg was amputated mid-

shinbone The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

, below the knee.

Sports career

Before he became disabled, Çekiç performed weightlifting between 1993 and 1996, and competed at national level in France. He became also a champion. Alpine skiing was his favorite hobby, even before his accident, due to the proximity of his residence to the mountains. In 2010, he began Para-alpine skiing in France, and debuted internationally for Turkey in the United States in 2013. He is classified as LW4, which is a disability class for Para-skiers with disability in one lower extremity. Çekiç is a member of the ski club in

Le Hohwald Le Hohwald (german: Hohwald) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. Geography Climate Le Hohwald is a hill village, with altitude above sea level in the commune ranging from 450 meters to nearly 1100 meters ...

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

, France, where he acts also as a skiing instructor. He is coached by French Dany Iselin and Turkish Ersin Beyduz. Following training in Canada and the United States, after his participation at a competition in

Rinn Rinn is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 6 km southeast of Innsbruck. The village was mentioned in documents as “Runne” in 1250 for the first time. Population Climate Climate typ ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, Austria he qualified to start at the

2014 Winter Paralympics The 2014 Winter Paralympics (russian: Зимние Паралимпийские игры 2014, Zimniye Paralimpiyskiye igry 2014), the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, Russia. After a two-week camp in Turkey, he took part at the Paralympics with a teammate. At the

2018 Winter Paralympics ) , nations = 49 , athletes = 569 , events = 80 in 6 sports , opening = 9 March , closing = 18 March , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...

PyeongChang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, South Korea, he represented Turkey alone. Çekiç was the flag bearer at the parade of nations of

Sochi 2014 , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, and

PyeongChang 2018 , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , wi ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cekic, Mehmet 1970 births Living people Turkish male alpine skiers Paralympic alpine skiers for Turkey Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Sportsmen with disabilities Turkish amputees University of Upper Alsace alumni Place of birth missing (living people)