14.12.2020
Hosts Turkey produced their greatest-ever performance in European gymnastics history, winning eight medals at the Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in the city of Mersin from 9-13 December.
Turkey’s first medal of the championships came on the penultimate day of competition when Ferhat Arıcan, İbrahim Çolak, Ahmet Önder, Ümit Şamiloğlu and Abdelrahman Elgama finished second behind Ukraine in men’s team to win the silver medal. It was a historic first-ever medal of any colour in teams for Turkey at a European Gymnastics Championships.
Turkey were not finished however and on the last day of competitions won an additional seven medals.
The first came from Bora Tarhan who won bronze medals in junior rings and vault. Mert Efe Kılıçer then claimed two more medals for Turkey as he won silver in horizontal bar and bronze in parallel bar.
Ferhat Arıcan, who at Rio 2016 became the first male artistic gymnast to represent Turkey at an Olympic Games, added to the host nation’s haul of medals by claiming bronze in pommel horse.
Next, it was World Champion İbrahim Çolak’s turn and he did not disappoint finishing in first place in rings to claim the gold medal.
Last year, Çolak became Turkey’s first-ever artistic gymnast to win a medal of any colour at a world championships when he won gold on the rings at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Ferhat Arıcan followed up with Turkey’s second gold medal of the tournament when he finished first in parallel bar to complete a historic day for Turkish gymnastics.