Sibel Özkan (born 3 March 1988, in

Afyonkarahisar Afyonkarahisar (, 'poppy, opium', ''kara'' 'black', ''hisar'' 'fortress') is a major city in western Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Afyonkarahisar Province and Afyonkarahisar District. Its population is 251,799 (2021). Afyon is in the ...

) 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 48 kg division. She is tall and weighs . She initially won the silver medal in the 48 kg event 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 ...

, but in 2016 her result was annulled due to a doping violation upon reanalysis of samples from 2008.

Personal life

She was born on 3 March 1988, to Ramazan and his wife to Kezban in Kozluca village of

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 ...

as the youngest of three siblings. As she was three years of age, her parents divorced. Unable to look after her children, the mother placed Sİbel's brother Bülent, at that time four years old, and Özgür, who was five years old, into a children's dormitory in Afyonkarahisar. However, Sibel had to be moved to another city, since the orphanage was only for boys. She was put in a children's home in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

. Her mother Kezban Özkan died one year after she placed her children in orphanages. Sibel's brothers joined her in the same

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

in Konya two years later. As she was 13 years of age, Sibel shifted to another orphanage in the same city. There, she started to perform sports with

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

. However, her interest changed soon to

weightlifting 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 ...

despite her brother's opposition. She was trained by Süreyya Horasanlı and Sami Özsu, becoming successful at national and international championships in the 48 kg category. Sibel is member of the weightlifting-specialized sports club of Kuyulusebil Halter İhtisas S.K. in Konya. After finishing the high school at the age of 18, she attended Gaziosmanpaşa University in

Tokat Tokat is a city of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is the seat of Tokat Province and Tokat District.

to study

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

and sports, where she is still a student. In 2009, Sibel married to Ömer Öz, a medal-winning Turkish weightlifter, whom she was engaged to since 2006. The couple separated the same year.

Achievements and honours

After coming fourth in the snatch event at the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships - Women's 48 kg, she won her first Olympics silver medal in the Beijing Summer Olympics on 9 August 2008, held at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium coming second to the then winner of the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships - Women's 48 kg Xiexia Chen. Sibel won the silver medal with 111.0 kg in the Clean and Jerk achieving 199.0 kg in total. Achieving 117.0 kg in the 48 kg Clean and Jerk category at the

2009 World Weightlifting Championships The World Weightlifting Championships 2009 was held in Goyang, South Korea. The event took place from November 20 to November 29, 2009. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Ranking by Big (Total result) medals Ranking by all medals: Big ( ...

held in

Goyang Goyang (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's Satellite city, satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, w ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, Sibel Özkan became Turkey's first ever female gold medalist in weightlifting at world championships.

Doping case

In 2016, the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

requested the return of the silver medal that she won at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, due to her failing a repeated

drug test A drug test (also often toxicology screen or tox screen) is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or saliva, oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent ...

for using

Stanozolol Stanozolol (Abbreviation, abbrev. Stz), sold under many brand names, is a synthetic androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication derived from dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It is used to treat hereditary angioedema. It was developed by American ph ...

Stats and records

https://iwf.sport/weightlifting_/athletes-bios/?athlete=ozkan-konak-sibel-1988-03-03&id=3370 ;

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 ...

: ;

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

: ;

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

: ;

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

: Legend: * ERJ European Record Juniors

References

External links

Beijing 2008 Athlete Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozkan, Sibel 1988 births Sportspeople from Afyonkarahisar Living people Weightlifters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters for Turkey World Weightlifting Championships medalists Turkish female weightlifters European champions for Turkey Doping cases in weightlifting Turkish sportspeople in doping cases Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Competitors at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Weightlifters at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in weightlifting European Weightlifting Championships medalists 21st-century Turkish sportswomen