Derya Can Göçen (born Derya Can on October 12, 1979) is a Turkish world record holder female

free-diver Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath- ...

and school teacher.

Family life

Derya Can was born in

Çanakkale Çanakkale (pronounced ), ancient ''Dardanellia'' (), is a city and seaport in Turkey in Çanakkale province on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the city is 195,439 (2021 estimate). Çanakkale is ...

, Turkey on October 12, 1979. She studied physical education and sports at

Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (informally ''ÇOMÜ'') is a Turkish public research university located in Çanakkale (Dardannelles) province (near Gallipoli) and its surrounding towns. It is a member of the Balkan Universities Network, the ...

graduating in 2001. She has been working as a teacher since 2009. She is married to Tayfun Göçen, who is chief diver of a search and rescue team at the

Turkish Coast Guard The Coast Guard Command ( tr, ) is the coast guard service of Turkey. The Turkish Coast Guard is under the command of the Ministry of the Interior. However, during wartime some of its elements can be subordinated to Turkish Naval Forces by the ...

, and also a free-diver. She is a mother of two children, a 2011-born son Poyraz Mustafa and a daughter Derin Helen born in 2015. The family lives in Canakkale.

Sporting career

She began performing sport already in primary school years. After achieving regional success in athletics, she switched over to

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

in the high school. She was called up to the national team camp for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

after her success as the runners-up at the Turkish championships. However, she had to hang up her boots after sustaining an injury on her knee. Performing

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

since her age of fifteen, she was inspired for

freediving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-h ...

in 2002 by her cousin, who was a former free-diver. She was admitted to the Turkey national team already in 2003. Can Göçen holds many titles in diverse freediving disciplines at national, continental and world level competitions. She was the world record holder in the jump blue apnea with fins (JB) discipline in 2008 with . In 2013, she set a world record in the constant weight without fins at sea (CWT) discipline with . She improved her own world record from 2013 to in 2:29 minutes off Kaş, Antalya, Turkey on July 20, 2014. Can Göçen set a national record in the CWT discipline, which was held by

Şahika Ercümen Şahika Ercümen (born 16 January 1985) is a Turkish dietitian and world record holder free-diver. Born on January 16, 1985, in Çanakkale, she was educated at the Gazi Primary School, and received a secondary education at the Milli Piyango Anat ...

, improving it to a depth of on September 2, 2016. She placed third in the CWT discipline with in 2:02 minutes at the CMAS 2nd Apnea World Championship Outdoor held at Kaş, Turkey on October 4, 2016. Her achievement was a national record at the same time. On December 16, 2016, she set a CMAS-recognized world record in the variable weight apnea without fins at sea (VNF) diving in

Kaş Kaş (; el, Αντίφελλος, translit=Antífellos, translit-std=ISO) is a small fishing, diving, yachting and tourist town, and a district of Antalya Province of Turkey, 168 km west of the city of Antalya. As a tourist resort, it is re ...

to a depth of in 2:38 min. Former record belonged to

with . On February 25, 2017, she set a new CMAS-approved world record diving a distance of under the ice layer at the frozen lake Weissensee in Austria. She is a member of the Middle East Technical University's

underwater sports Underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using one or a combination of the following underwater diving techniques - breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba, usually including the use of equipment such as diving masks and fins. These sport ...

club ODTÜ SAS. She admits that she is afraid of the deep blue sea, however, continues with free-diving, which helps overcome her fear.

World records

* JB – 2008 * CWT – 2013 * CWT – July 20, 2014 in Kaş, Antalya, Turkey * VNF – December 16, 2016 in Kaş * Distance diving under ice – Weissensee, Austria

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Can, Derya Living people 1979 births Sportspeople from Çanakkale Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University alumni Turkish schoolteachers Turkish freedivers Turkish sportswomen Survivor Turkey contestants