Tutya Yılmaz (born 4 June 1999 in

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 ...

) is a Turkish female

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

who 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 ...

at the

2014 Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports, ...

and the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. In 2016, she was named Turkish Female Athlete of the Year.

Early life

Yılmaz was born in

Bakırköy Bakırköy is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district in the European part of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 29 km2, and its population is 226,685 (2022). Bakırköy lies between the State road D.100 (Turkey), D.100 highway (l ...

, Turkey in 1999, and started gymnastics at age 4. She attended Ekrem Elginkan High School in Istanbul.

Career

Junior

2013

In June, Yılmaz competed at the Olympic Hopes meet in

Penza Penza (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura (river), Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Russian census, 2010 Census, Penza had ...

, Russia, where she placed fourth in the all-around, fifth on bars and floor, and won the bronze medal on beam. In July, she competed at the 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival, finishing 24th in the all-around and 12th with the Turkish team.

2014

Yılmaz competed at the 2014 Junior European Championships in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. She did not make any finals, but her performance in qualifications earned her a spot at the

Youth Olympic Games Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old. Organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with ...

. At the Youth Olympic Games, Yılmaz qualified to the all-around final, where she finished 10th. She also placed eighth in the vault and floor exercise finals. Later that year, Yılmaz competed at the Mediterranean Junior Championships in Italy, where she placed fourth in the all-around and on vault, fifth on the uneven bars and won the gold medal on the balance beam.

Senior

2015

Yılmaz made her senior debut at the Cottbus World Cup in Germany, placing seventh in the floor final. In April, Yılmaz competed at the 2015 European Championships and placed 49th all-around during qualifications. At the Varna World Cup, she placed ninth on vault, fifth on beam and sixth on floor. Yılmaz represented Turkey at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and finished 13th in the all-around final. She competed at the 2015 World Championships in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

but did not make any finals.

2016

At the 2016 Turkish Championships, Yılmaz won the gold medal in the all-around as well as on vault and beam, and took the silver on bars and the bronze on floor. Yılmaz placed 53rd at the Olympic Test Event, and qualified to the

as an individual, becoming the second Turkish gymnast to qualify to the Olympic Games after Göksu Üçtaş Şanlı. She followed that up with a sixth place finish on beam at the Varna World Cup. In June, she competed at the

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 ...

, but did not make the event finals. At the Mersin World Cup in July, she won the balance beam gold in front of a home crowd, and placed fourth on floor and fifth on the uneven bars. During qualifications at the

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

, Yılmaz placed 42nd all-around and scored an outstanding 14.500 on the balance beam, making her the third reserve for the balance beam final.

2017

Yılmaz competed at the 2017 World Championships in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

but was limited to the uneven bars due to a knee injury, and did not make the event finals.

2018

Yılmaz returned to competition at the Koper World Cup, finishing eighth in the floor final. At the

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 ...

, Yılmaz helped the Turkish team finish fifth in the team final, and placed 10th in the all-around and sixth on the uneven bars individually. At the Mersin World Cup, Yılmaz won three silver medals in front of a home crowd: one on the uneven bars, one on the balance beam and one on floor. She competed at the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburg ...

, but did not make the finals. In September, she competed at the Szombathely World Cup and qualified to the floor final. However, she struggled in the final, and placed eighth. Yılmaz was part of the Turkish team competing at the 2018 World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, and placed 60th all-around in qualifications, missing out on the finals.

2019

In March, Yılmaz competed at the Turkish Championships, winning the silver medal in the all-around, and taking the bronze in both the uneven bars and balance beam finals. Later that month, she competed at the Baku World Cup and the Doha World Cup, but she did not make any finals. At the Mersin World Cup, Yılmaz won a silver medal on the floor exercise and placed fifth in the balance beam final. Yılmaz competed at the 2019 World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, but failed to qualify to the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Retirement

Yılmaz announced her retirement on 15 October 2019, shortly after the 2019 World Championships. On 13 June 2020, Yılmaz uploaded a video to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, in which she revealed that she was subjected to

mobbing Mobbing, as a sociological term, refers either to bullying in any context, or specifically to that within the workplace, especially when perpetrated by a group rather than an individual. Psychological and health effects Victims of workplace mo ...

and

psychological abuse Psychological abuse, often known as emotional abuse or mental abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another person to a behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including Anxiety disorder, anxiety, c ...

by her managers, which contributed to her decision to retire from gymnastics.

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yilmaz, Tutya 1999 births Living people Gymnasts from Istanbul Turkish female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics European Games competitors for Turkey Gymnasts at the 2015 European Games Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Turkey Gymnasts at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Turkey 21st-century Turkish sportswomen