Turkcell (NYSE:TKC) (BIST:TCELL), Turkey’s leading telecommunications
and technology company, and Turkish Ministry of Sports and Youth had
joined forces to improve the standing of swimming in Turkey and train
Turkish athletes to be among the champions at the 2020 Olympics.
Turkey’s elite swimmers who were trained by in Baltimore by Bob Bowman,
the trainer of the Olympic legend Michael Phelps, are on the
international competition scene for the first time with the European
Championships in Berlin.
(Photo: Business Wire)
Nezir Kara and Doga Celik are among the swimmers that are representing
Turkey in free style while Alpkan Ornek enters the pool for breaststroke
and medley categories. Nezir, Doga and Alpkan were among the 5 elite
swimmers who were trained in Baltimore by Bowman and his team as a part
of the “Olympic Performance Project” launched by Turkcell and Turkish
Swimming Federation.
Other members of the Turkish national swimming team in Berlin are Ediz
Yildirimer, Doruk Tekin ve Iskender Baslakov in men, and Ezgi Yazici and
Gizem Bozkurt in women. Within the framework of the Olympic Performance
Project, Turkish national swimming team is trained by Fernando Canales,
a member of Bob Bowman’s trainers’ team.
Following up on a week of national success
Prior to the
European Championship, 5 swimmers who have been trained in Baltimore
competed in Turkey’s national Swimming Championship sponsored by
Turkcell. Between the 5 of them, they broke 6 national records and won 9
gold medals. The athletes have shown significant improvement in their
individual performances on the way to the 2016 Olympics.
595 athletes from 24 different cities and 73 different teams competed at
Turkcell Turkish Swimming Championship.
Raising the profile of swimming with a grass roots approach
With
their partnership, Turkcell and the General Directorate of Sports under
the Ministry of Sports and Youth aim to increase the number of active
licensed swimmers, create sustainable success in swimming as well as
securing recognition for Turkish swimming in the international arena.
With the local initiatives held under the project, the number of
licensed swimmers in Turkey increased from 18 thousand to 32 thousand in
just more than a year, registering an increase of 80%. Doubling the
participation of last year, over 20 thousand young swimmers, aged 8-12,
are expected to participate this year in Turkcell Swimming Days, which
are being held in 40 Turkish cities in August and September.
ABOUT TURKCELL: Turkcell is the leading communications and
technology company in Turkey, with 34.6 million subscribers as of June
30, 2014. Turkcell is a leading regional player with its approximately
69.5 million subscribers in nine countries as of June 30, 2014. It has
become one of the first among the global operators to have implemented
HSPA+. It has achieved up to 43.2 Mbps speed using the Dual Carrier
technology, and is continuously working to provide the latest technology
to its customers. Turkcell Superonline, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Turkcell, is the first telecom operator to offer households fiber
broadband connection at speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps in Turkey. As of
March 2014, Turkcell’s population coverage is at 99.49% in 2G and 86.37%
in 3G. Turkcell reported a TRY2.9 billion (US$1.4 billion) revenue with
total assets of TRY21.8 billion (US$10.3 billion) as of June 30, 2014.
It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the
only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr
You can now follow the most up-to-date Turkcell developments on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/TurkcellNews
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