Melike Günal (born 5 April 1998) is a Turkish

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

competing in the women's +87 kg division. She is a member of ASKİ Spor in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Early life and education

Melike GünaI was born in

Kahramanmaraş Kahramanmaraş (), historically Marash (; ) and Germanicea (), is a city in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean region of Turkey and the administrative centre of Kahramanmaraş Province, Kahramanmaraş province. After 1973, Maraş was ...

, southeastern Turkey on 5 April 1998. She studied Physical Education at

Adıyaman University Adıyaman University is a state university, established in 2006 in Adıyaman province, Turkey. Departments *Faculty of Engineering *Faculty oEconomics and Managerial Sciences*Faculty oScience and Letters*Faculty oTechnology*Faculty oMedicine*F ...

Sports career

Wrestling to weightlifting

She initially began with

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

sport. During her trainings for wrestling in

, she lifted weights in order to be stronger. With the encouragement of her coach, she switched over to weightlifting, and became several times Turkish champion.

Major results

Günal took three bronze medals in the +90 kg event at the 2018 European Junior & U23 Weightlifting Championships held in

Zamość Zamość (; ; ) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. Zamość was founded in 1580 by Jan Zamoyski ...

, Poland. In 2019, she became three times gold medalist at the European Junior & U23 Championships in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania. She took three gold medals in the +87 kg division at the 6th International Solidarity Championships in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, Uzbekistan. She won three bronze medals at the

2021 European Weightlifting Championships The 2021 European Weightlifting Championships took place in Moscow, Russia, from 3 to 11 April 2021. Medal table Note: Daniyar İsmayilov, who originally won the gold medal in the men's 73kg event, was disqualified after he tested positive for ...

held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia, in the +87 kghe Snatch and

Clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without rest ...

events, taking the bronze medal in the total. She is the Turkish record holder in +87 kg Snatch (108 kg), Clean & Jerk (135) and total (243 kg). At the 2021 European Junior & U23 Weightlifting Championships in Rovaniemi, Finland, she won the bronze medal in her event. She won the silver medal in her event at the 2022 European Weightlifting Championships held in Tirana, Albania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunal, Melike 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Kahramanmaraş Turkish female weightlifters 21st-century Turkish sportswomen European Weightlifting Championships medalists Adıyaman University alumni