Pınar Saka (born 5 November 1985) is a Turkish female

track running Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

in the sprint discipline competing in the categories

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

and

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

. She is the Turkish national record holder for

. This time is the first time a Turkish woman ran under 52 seconds and also a qualifying mark for Olympics that will be held in London in 2012. She was chosen as Regional Athlete of the Year in Midwest both in 2008 and 2009. There were 8 regional athletes nominated for "National Athlete of the Year" award and in 2009, she receiveds that honor. Saka was born in

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. She studied international business at the

University of Nebraska at Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) is a public university, public research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Omaha, Nebraska), Omaha Presbyterian Theological ...

in the USA. The tall athlete at is a member of Enkaspor in

, where she is coached by Öznur Dursun. Saka participated at the

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the categories

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky i ...

, 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay. She ran

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the 4 × 400 m relay in 3:40.75 with her teammates Birsen Bekgöz,

Özge Gürler Özge is a common female Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Özge" means "Different", "Distinct", "Unique", "Ablude", and/or "Daredevil". People * Özge Akın (born 1985), Turkish sprinter * Özge Bayrak (born 1992), Turkish badminton player * � ...

and Binnaz Uslu. In 2011 Saka won the silver medal at the 26th Summer Universiade in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

together with a team consisting of Nagihan Karadere, Merve Aydın and Meliz Redif, with a time of 3.31.05. Saka qualified for participation in the

event at the

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

. She is doing her MBA degree at

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Boğaziçi Üniversitesi''), also known as Bosphorus University, is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey, historically tied to a former American educational insti ...

in Istanbul.

Doping

Pınar Saka was in 2013 sanctioned as a result of abnormalities detected in her

biological passport An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by ...

. She was disqualified from 18 June 2010 and got three years ineligibility ending 23 May 2015.

Achievements

Her personal best performances are: * 100 m 11.93 (2003) * 200 m 23.97 (2003) * 200 m Indoor 23.90 * 400 m 51.53 (2011) NR * 400 m Indoor 52.99 (2011) NR NR: Turkish national record

References

1985 births Doping cases in athletics Turkish sportspeople in doping cases Living people Turkish female sprinters Enkaspor athletes Athletes from Istanbul University of Nebraska alumni Boğaziçi University alumni Olympic athletes for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics FISU World University Games silver medalists for Turkey Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Olympic female sprinters {{Turkey-athletics-bio-stub