Gülşah Günenç (born January 5, 1985) is a Turkish former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. She represented

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 ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008). She broke two Turkish national records in both 100 and 200 m butterfly at the 2006 FINA World Championships (SC). Gunenc is also a member of the swimming team for Fenerbahce Sports Club in her native

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 ...

, and for the Buckeyes at

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. Gunenc made her first Turkish team (aged 19) at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

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, competing in a butterfly double. On the first day of the competition, she had been battling with fever to race smoothly for third and thirty-fifth overall behind fastest entrant

Cheng Wan-jung Cheng Wan-jung (born 22 February 1988) is a Taiwanese swimmer. At the 2004 Olympics, she competed in the 100 and 200 m butterfly, finishing in 34th and 25th place respectively. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Swimming at the 201 ...

of the Chinese Taipei and leader

Kateryna Zubkova Kateryna Mikhailivna Zubkova () (born 14 July 1988 in Kharkiv) is a Ukrainian swimmer. Career She has won national titles for Ukraine eight times, and is a former European breaststroke champion. She has competed at numerous international meets, ...

of Ukraine by more than a second in heat one of the women's 100 m butterfly, finishing with a mark of 1:04.30. Three days later, in the 200 m butterfly, Gunenc tried to hold on with Singapore's two-time Olympian Christel Bouvron throughout the race in heat one to finish sixth and thirty-first on the morning prelims at 2:20.17. At the

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

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, Gunenc qualified for the second time in the

women's 200 m butterfly A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

by eclipsing a FINA B-standard of 2:15.32 from the Toyota Grand Prix four months earlier in

. Swimming in heat one, Gunenc set a Turkish record in a tech bodysuit at 2:14.44 to chase Norway's

Ingvild Snildal Ingvild Snildal (born 25 August 1988 in Asker, Norway)
from www.sports-reference.com; retrieved 2009-07-1 ...

for second place by just a fingertip (0.09 seconds), but failed to advance to the semifinals with a thirty-second overall finish. Gunenc received a triple-major business degree at the

, despite her early English language problems and transitional adjustments to American culture. Shortly after the Olympics, she eventually retired from swimming to pursue her master's degree in economics, while attending graduate school at

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

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References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
1985 births Living people Turkish female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Turkey Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Female butterfly swimmers Ohio State Buckeyes women's swimmers Turkish expatriate swimmers in the United States Swimmers from Istanbul 21st-century Turkish sportswomen {{Turkey-swimming-bio-stub

See also

References

External links