Mete Gazoz (born 8 June 1999 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

) is a Turkish recurve

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

. He won the gold medal in the men's individual event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

held in Tokyo, Japan. He also represented Turkey at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sports career

Gazoz began with Archery in 2010. The right-handed archer made his international debut in 2013. He won the silver medal in the Recurve Junior Men Team event at the 2013 World Archery Youth Championships in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

, China. He participated in the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China, in the

2015 European Games The 2015 European Games, also known as Baku 2015 or Baku 2015 European Games ( az, Bakı 2015 Avropa Oyunları), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan, and in the

2015 World Archery Championships The 2015 World Archery Championships was the 48th edition of the event. It was held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 26 July to 2 August 2015 and was organised by World Archery Federation (formerly known as FITA). Qualification and elimination rounds ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark. Gazoz won the silver medal in the Recurve Cadet Men event at the European Youth Cup Circuit 2015 in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

, Austria, and another silver medal in the Recurve Junior Men Team event at the 2016 World Indoor Archery Championships in

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. Gazoz won his first match on 8 August 2016 in the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

at 1/32 tour against the French

Pierre Plihon Pierre Plihon (born 29 October 1989 in Nice), is a French athlete who competes in recurve archery. Plihon first competed internationally in 2014, in which year he won a team gold medal at the 2014 European Archery Championships in Echmiadzin ...

, with a score of 6–5. At his second match, 1/16 tour, he lost the game 3–7 against the Dutch

Sjef Van den Berg Sjef van den Berg (born 14 April 1995) is a retired Dutch competitive archer. He has won a total of two medals (a silver in the individual recurve and a bronze for the Dutch team) at the 2015 European Games, and eventually finished fourth in th ...

. He won the bronze medal in the Junior Mixed Team event with his teammate Yasemin Anagöz at the 2017 World Archery Youth Championships in

Rosario, Santa Fe Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

, Argentina. He claimed the silver medal in the Junior Men's individual event at the 2018 World Indoor Archery Championships held in

Yankton, South Dakota Yankton is a city in and the county seat of Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,411 at the 2020 census, and it is the principal city of the Yankton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the entirety of Y ...

, United States. He won the gold medal in individuals 70m category during the

2018 Mediterranean Games The 2018 Mediterranean Games ( es, Juegos Mediterráneos de 2018), officially known as the XVIII Mediterranean Games ( es, XVIII Juegos Mediterráneos) and commonly known as Tarragona 2018, was an international multi-sport event held from 22 Jun ...

held in

Tarragona, Spain Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

. Mete Gazoz won gold in men's individual archery at

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

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 ...

, bringing his country its first-ever Olympic medal in archery. “I’m feeling great. It’s amazing to be here, it’s amazing to have a gold medal at the Olympics. After 2016, after Rio, I promised myself I would be Olympic Champion next time in Tokyo,” said Gazoz. Gazoz, who defeated Luxembourg's

Jeff Henckels Jeff Henckels (born 30 August 1984 in Luxembourg City) is an athlete from Luxembourg that competes in archery. Henckels competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's individual archery. He was defeated in the first elimination round b ...

in the first round match held on Thursday at the Yumenoshima Archery Field, and Australian

Ryan Tyack Ryan Tyack (born 2 June 1991) is an Australian archer competing in men's recurve events at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He earned a gold medal at the 2006 Junior World Outdoor Target Championships in the male recurve cadet event. He also won a g ...

in the second round match, had advanced to the last 16. He advanced to the quarterfinals by knocking off Australian

Taylor Worth Taylor Worth (born 8 January 1991) is an Australian archer competing in recurve events. He won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the men's team event, a gold medal at the United States Open and at the 2008 World Youth Archery Cha ...

in the round of 16 in the morning session. Gazoz eliminated

Brady Ellison Brady Ellison (born October 27, 1988) is an American archer who competes in recurve archery. He is currently a Resident Athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. He holds the record for the longest conti ...

of the United States, who is ranked number 1 in the world rankings, to book his spot in the semifinals. In the semis, Gazoz defeated Japan's

Takaharu Furukawa is an archery athlete from Japan, competing in both individual and team archery events. He competed in the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the 2006 All-Japan National Champion, Archery career Furukawa began his archery car ...

to advance to the final. Here he competed against Italy's

Mauro Nespoli Mauro Nespoli (born 22 November 1987, in Voghera) is an Italian archer who was a member of the Italian teams that won gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics and silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics. and individual silver at Tokyo 2020 Tokyo Summer O ...

. Gazoz won the match 6-4 and bagged the gold medal. He won the bronze medal in the men's individual recurve event at the

2022 European Archery Championships The 2022 European Archery Championships were held from 6 to 12 June in Munich, Germany. Championships also served as qualification event for Archery at the 2023 European Games, 2023 European Games. Medal table Medal summary Recurve Compoun ...

held in Munich, Germany.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazoz, Mete Turkish male archers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1999 births Archers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Archers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Turkey Olympic medalists in archery Olympic archers for Turkey Competitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 2022 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in archery European Games competitors for Turkey Archers at the 2015 European Games Archers at the 2019 European Games Archers at the 2023 European Games Islamic Solidarity Games medalists in archery 21st-century Turkish people Islamic Solidarity Games gold medalists for Turkey Islamic Solidarity Games silver medalists for Turkey