Süreyya Ayhan Kop (born September 6, 1978) is a Turkish former female middle distance track runner who specialised in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

. In November 2009, she was banned for life by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

(CAS) due to her second anti- doping rule violation. Ayhan ran for the sports clubs MTA Ankara and Fenerbahçe Istanbul. She then joined the

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club. She holds Turkish records in 800 m (2:00.64) and 1500 m (3:55.33). She became the first Turkish woman ever to reach an Olympic semi-final during her participation in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney, Australia. The next year, she became the first Turkish woman to reach a World Championship final. She was the best European woman athlete running 1500 m in two consecutive years 2002 and 2003. In 2007, Ayhan was served with a lifetime competition ban due to violating anti-doping regulations.

Athletics career

Early career

Ayhan's father is a former amateur athlete, a local cross-country runner. He was a role model and supporter for Süreyya when she started athletics in the

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

. In 1992, she started running competitively. She graduated from the Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi in sport and

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 ...

. Born in Korgun,

Çankırı Çankırı, historically known as Gangra (Greek language, Greek: Γάγγρα), is a city in Turkey, about northeast of Ankara. It is situated about 800 m (2500 ft) above sea level. It is the seat of Çankırı Province and of Çankır ...

, she established herself as Turkey's top 1500 m runner with a win at the 1999 national championships, setting a Turkish record. The following year she became the country's first female semi-finalist at the

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 ...

. She reached the final of the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 and 12 August 2001 and was the first time the event ...

(another first for Turkish female athletes), became the

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

1500 m champion and won a silver at the

2001 Mediterranean Games The XIV Mediterranean Games (), commonly known as the 2001 Mediterranean Games, were the 14th Mediterranean Games held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 2–15 September 2001, where 2,991 athletes (1,972 men and 1,019 women) from 23 countries participated. ...

World-class breakthrough

In 2002, she won Turkey's first

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in a European Championships by out-sprinting World and Olympics champion

Gabriela Szabo Gabriela Szabo (, ; born 14 November 1975) is a retired Romanian runner. She competed in the 1500 m and 5000 m events at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal. Szabo is a three-time world champion. She was nam ...

from Romania for the 1500 m title 2 seconds ahead with 3:58.79, leading from the gun to the finish. She improved further in 2003, taking two seconds off her personal best winning a silver medal in the 1500 m final of the 2003 World Championships.

Doping ban

Ayhan, one of Turkey's best hopes for a gold medal at the

2004 Athens 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 ...

, withdrew from the games due to an injured

tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue, dense fibrous connective tissue that connects skeletal muscle, muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tensi ...

during a training in Germany. Allegations that Ayhan may have attempted to cheat on a pre-Olympic doping test surfaced in August after testers reportedly complained of being obstructed from carrying out their work. She was cleared of doping allegations by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

, but she violated rules while taking her test. IAAF ruled that Ayhan had not taken performance-enhancing

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

, but said the athlete had broken testing rules, and she was banned for two years. She returned to competition but failed another test while she was training in the United States in November 2007, this time after her sample tested positive for the

steroid A steroid is an organic compound with four fused compound, fused rings (designated A, B, C, and D) arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes t ...

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 ...

and

methandienone Metandienone, also known as methandienone or methandrostenolone and sold under the brand name Dianabol (D-Bol) among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is mostly no longer prescribed. It is also used non-medically ...

metabolites. This second offence meant she received a lifetime ban from the sport, but she contested the ruling, taking the case to the

(CAS). The Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her ban to four years. Ayhan took the banning to the CAS in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

,Süreyya Ayhan Kop'un Davası
Nethaber, 18 January 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2019. however the international court reversed the decision in November 2009, upholding the lifetime ban.Turkish star Kop handed life ban

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, November 11, 2009

Dedications

On May 26, 2003, The Turkish Mint issued a 925 silver commemoration

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

worth of 10 US dollars in honor of her.

Personal bests

Progression

National titles

*Turkish Athletics Championships **1500 m: 1999 *Turkish Clubs Athletics Championships **800 m: 2000

International competitions

Circuit wins

*Turkish Stars Indoor Championship 800 m: 1993 (2:18 ) *Israeli Championships 1500 m: 1996, 1997 *

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it now serves as a final event of the D ...

1500 m: 2002 (3:57:75 ), 2003 (3:55:33 ) * ISTAF 1500 m: 2002, 2003 *

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich () is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it ...

1500 m: 2003 (3:55:60 )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayhan, Sureyya 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Çankırı Turkish female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Turkey World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Doping cases in athletics Turkish sportspeople in doping cases Fenerbahçe athletes European champions for Turkey Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) European Athlete of the Year winners Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics FISU World University Games gold medalists for Turkey Medalists at the 2001 Summer Universiade 21st-century Turkish sportswomen