Derya Büyükuncu (; born 2 July 1976) is a six-time Olympic

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

and

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The tall athlete at is a member of Galatasaray Swimming. His coach is Zehra Büyükuncu. He participated in six consecutive

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

: 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London. He is one of the first two (together with

Lars Frölander Lars Arne Frölander (born 26 May 1974) is a Sweden, Swedish swimming (sport), swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012). Biography Frölander was born in Boden, Sweden, Boden. He grew up i ...

) swimmers to participate in six

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Early years

At the age of nine, Büyükuncu became a national swimmer, and won a bronze medal in the 12-year-age category at the 1985 Balkan Swimming Championships held in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. At the 1987 Balkan Championships held in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, he won five gold medals. He repeated his five-fold gold medal performance at the 1989 Balkan Championships in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. In 1990, he took three gold medals at the Balkan Junior Championships held in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Büyükuncu earned two gold medals at the 1991 European Junior Swimming Championships in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium. That year, he was named "Sportsman of the Year" by ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950 ...

''. In 1992, he won the gold medal at the

European Junior Swimming Championships The European Junior Swimming Championships (50 m) is an annual swimming competition for European swimmers organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation and held over five days.

held in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, United Kingdom setting a new European juniors record. In so doing, he became the first ever Turkish swimmer to hold a European juniors record. Büyükuncu set a Games record in the 200m backstroke event at the 1993 Mediterranean Games in France and won the gold medal. The same year, he won two gold medals at the U.S. Open in

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

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and broke the record in the 100 yard backstroke event, beating world champion and record holder Jeff Rouse. Setting a record in the 100 yard backstroke, that is as of 2012 still unbroken, and a record in the 100 yard freestyle, Büyükuncu won two gold medals at the 1994 U.S. High School Swimming Championships. In 1993, he was named the "Male High School Swimmer of the Year" by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) in the USA. He became the first ever Turkish swimmer to appear on the cover of ''Swimming World Magazine in August 1994. Between 1994 and 1998, Büyükuncu set

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

records in the 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 100 m butterfly events. In that time span, he set

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

records in 100m and 200m backstroke, and was named the "Most Successful Swimmer" of Big Ten Conference in 1996 and 1998.

Athletic career

In 1996, Derya Büyükuncu earned five gold medals at the 1996 Balkan Championships in

. He took the bronze medal at the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

, Italy. Winning a gold medal at the 1998 World Swimming Cup in Canada, he became the first ever Turkish swimmer to win an international competition. In the 100m backstroke event, he earned a silver medal at the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 1999 The third edition of the European Short Course Championships was held in Complexo Desportivo do Jamor in Lisbon, Portugal, from 9 to 11 December 1999. Medal table Medal summary Men's events Women's events ReferencesResults on GBRSports.com ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and a bronze medal at the 2000 European Aquatics Championships held in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. As of 2012, Büyükuncu holds national records in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events set in 2009. He has been in the Turkey national team for more than 25 years. Büyükuncu qualified to participate 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 ...

. 2012 Summer Olympics was his sixth consecutive Olympics. Büyükuncu was sentenced to permanent deprivation of rights and an arrest warrant was issued for his post on his Twitter account against President Erdogan, who had coronavirus in 2022.

Media career

Derya Büyükuncu participated at the ''Yok Böyle Dans'' (Turkish version of ''Dancing with the Stars'') TV Show in 2010 and he got the fourth place. He also participated at the '' Survivor Turkey'' TV Show in 2011 and ended up winning the title of "Sole Champion Survivor".

Achievements

Recognitions

* 1991 ''

'' "Sportsman of the Year" * 1993 National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) "Male High School Swimmer of the Year" * 1998 "Most Successful Swimmer" of the Big Ten Conference

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buyukuncu, Derya 1976 births Living people Turkish male backstroke swimmers Turkish male butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers for Turkey Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Michigan Wolverines men's swimmers Turkish expatriate swimmers in the United States Galatasaray Swimming swimmers Swimmers from Istanbul Survivor (franchise) winners Kadıköy Anadolu Lisesi alumni Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Turkey Swimmers at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Swimmers at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Swimmers at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming