Turkish swimmers with Down syndrome continue their preparations to achieve new successes at the Trisome Games to be held in Antalya.
Under the coordination of the Turkish Special Athletes Sports Federation, the swimmers are gearing up for the games scheduled to take place on March 19-26 at the Yenimahalle Sports Complex in Ankara.
Gaye Kurubaş, chair of the Swimming Technical Committee of the Turkish Special Athletes Sports Federation, expressed their intensive ongoing preparations.
"We organized the Turkish Championship in Antalya last December, which was kind of a prelude to the Trisome Games. Based on the results of the Turkish Championship, we selected 12 athletes for our national team, consisting of five females and seven males," Kurubaş said.
Kurubaş explained that they conduct two training sessions daily during the Ankara camp.
"Three of our female athletes have mosaic Down syndrome. One of them is 17-year-old Ada Zehra Anlatıcı. Ada broke one open and four youth world records at the European Championships in Italy. Here, we have started our evaluations and team preparations for relay races by holding a consolidation camp. Our camp in Ankara will continue until Feb. 15," she added.
Gaye Kurubaş stated that Türkiye will be represented by Ada Zehra Anlatıcı, İrem Öztekin, Fatma Çağla Demir, Elif Oral and Duru Akkuş for women, and Alperen Menç, Berk Kocamaz, Serhat Emir Güngör, Özgün Öktem, Cengizhan Dönmez, Yusuf Kerem and Arda Çınaroğlu for men at the games.
"The participation from around the world in the games will be very intense. Truly talented athletes are coming. We expect around 170 athletes from 22 countries to compete in swimming events. It will be a bit challenging for us. We are hopeful about Ada Zehra Anlatıcı's performance; hopefully, we will achieve new records. We have other athletes we expect to perform well. We also have hope for our relay teams. İrem Öztekin is also one of our mosaic athletes, and this year, for the first time, there will be so many mosaic athletes competing in such a big event. This is a big surprise for us because mosaic Down syndrome individuals are rare in the world. There has never been a mosaic athlete in men before. It will be an exciting and competitive race," she said.
High expectations
Semra Karayılanoğlu, the coach of Alperen Menç, who will compete in the Trisome Games, said they have high expectations from the national swimmer.
Karayılanoğlu described Alperen as a hardworking athlete.
"Alperen utilizes his strength to the fullest; we have good training sessions. We have been working with Alperen for about eight or nine years. He is a regional athlete from Antalya, so we are completely the hosts. We achieved good results in Italy. He improved his rank in the Turkish Championship in Antalya. Now, we expect better results at the Trisome Games. Hopefully, we will win medals in Antalya," she said.
National swimmer Alperen Menç expressed his thoughts, saying: "We want to win medals at the Olympics in Antalya and make everyone proud. I am very happy that the competition will be in Antalya. We will become Olympic champions, and we will play our national anthem. Hopefully, we will give President Birol Aydın a medal joy."
National athlete İrem Öztekin said she started this sport four years ago in Izmir and expressed her ambition to win medals in butterfly and freestyle swimming in Antalya.
"I hope to raise our flag to the top in Antalya," she concluded.