Sibel Güler Sağır (born September 28, 1984, in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

) is a Turkish

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

practitioner. She is a four-time medalist and two-time defending champion at the

European Taekwondo Championships The European Taekwondo Championships are the European senior championships in Taekwondo, first held in Barcelona in 1976. The event is held every two years and is organized by the European Taekwondo Union, the continental affiliate of World Taekw ...

since 2004. She also claimed the middleweight division title at the

2005 Summer Universiade The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey, in August. Emblem The emblem is the letter “U”, inspired by the bird's-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir. This shape has perfectly fit the lett ...

in Izmir, but won a silver medal at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

, losing out to Chinese Taipei's Lin An-Ni in the final match. Guler competed for the women's middleweight category (67 kg) at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

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 ...

, after defeating Greek taekwondo jin and Olympic silver medalist

Elisavet Mystakidou Elisavet "Elli" Mystakidou ( el, Ελλη Μυστακίδου; born 14 August 1977 in Giannitsa) is a Greek taekwondo practitioner and Olympic medalist. She participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens where she earned a silver medal in t ...

in the final match of the European Qualification Tournament 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, ...

. She lost the first preliminary match to Argentina's Vanina Sánchez, who was able to score four points at the end of the game.

Family life

She was born to Cevat Güler and his wife Gülten, a Turkish family in Bulgaria. Sibel has a brother Sunay. Sibel Güler was interested in swimming before she immigrated to Turkey with her family in 1989. During her school years in Turkey, she played in the volleyball team. In 1995, she began with taekwondo supported by her mother. With gaining success, she was transferred to TSE club in Ankara. Güler studied at the School of Physical Education and Sports of

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

graduating in 2008. She has been a member of the Turkish women's national taekwondo team since 2000. On August 30, 2008, she married

Taner Sağır Taner Sağır (born 13 March 1985 in Kardzhali, Bulgaria) is a Turkish world and Olympic weightlifting champion. Coming into Athens as holder of all the junior world records at the age of only 19, he broke the Olympic records in the category &nda ...

, a world and Olympic weightlifting champion and also an immigrant from Bulgaria. The couple has a child. The family resides in Ankara in a street named after Taner Sağır.

References

External links

*
NBC 2008 Olympics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guler, Sibel Turkish female taekwondo practitioners Bulgarian Turks in Turkey 1984 births Living people Olympic taekwondo practitioners of Turkey Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics Ankara University alumni Turkish female martial artists Universiade medalists in taekwondo Universiade gold medalists for Turkey Universiade silver medalists for Turkey European Taekwondo Championships medalists Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade 21st-century Turkish women