Gizem Girişmen (born November 25, 1981) is a Turkish Paralympic archerhttp://www.hurriyet.com.tr/spor/digersporlar/9888672.asp?m=1 competing in the women's recurve

ARW2 ARW2 is a Paralympic archery classification. It is a sitting class. This class includes Les Autres sportspeople. People from this class compete in the sport at the Paralympic Games, with an early version appearing at the 1988 World Championship ...

event.

Early years

In 1992, at the age of eleven, she was paralyzed following a traffic accident. She completed her education with honors in Business Administration from

Bilkent University Bilkent University ( tr, Bilkent Üniversitesi) is a private university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by Prof. İhsan Doğramacı in 1984, with the aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research. It is constan ...

in 2004. In the same year, she was invited to an archery competition where she got interested and decided to practice that sport. She practised in the basement garage of her apartment building, with the permission of the neighbors. After two years of practice and competition experience in national tournaments, Gizem Girişmen had 3rd place (ARW2 Recurve Female) at 2006 EPC Archery European Championships held in the Czech Republic, which was her first international tournament.

Sporting career

She won the first place (FITA Round) at the 2007 IPC Archery World Championships in

Cheongju Cheongju () is the capital and largest city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. History Cheongju has been an important provincial town since ancient times. In the Cheongju Mountains, specifically in the one where Sangdang Sanseong is ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. In the same year, she won first place in the 2007

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

International Archery Tournament. In 2008, she became second in the European Disabled Archery Grand Prix held between July 12–18 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She represented Turkey at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

in the category of individual recurve W1/W2 and won the gold medal by defeating her

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

rival

Fu Hongzhi Fu Hongzhi is a Chinese paralympic archer. She won the silver medal at the Women's individual recurve - W1/W2 event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as ...

. Finally in August 2009, Girişmen confirmed her World Champion status by winning the gold at the Para-Archery World Championships held in

Nymburk Nymburk (; german: Nimburg, Neuenburg an der Elbe) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the Elbe River. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

. She has been ranked ''Number One Archer in the World'' for Women's Ind. Recurve-W1/W2 since 2007. Girişmen was nominated as the ''Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year'', the first Turkish athlete nominated to this award.http://www.engellilersitesi.com/haber/700-spor-yolunuz-acik-olsun.html Gizem Girişmen is also the Turkish record holder of 30-50-60-70 meters, FITA, 70 mt round and Olymp R Match for ARW2 female category. She competed at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in the women's individual recurve W1/W2 event, where she lost to her

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian opponent in the quarterfinals. She was also part of the Turkish team at the women's team recurve event, which came 5th losing to the team from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the quarterfinals.

Honors

* ''Torch bearer of 2008 Summer Paralympics'' * ''Athlete of the Month'' (August 2009) by IPC * '' Flag bearer of Turkey at the 2012 Summer Paralympics''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Girismen, Gizem Living people 1981 births Sportspeople from Ankara Turkish female archers Bilkent University alumni Paralympic archers of Turkey Archers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Turkey Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in archery People with paraplegia 21st-century Turkish sportswomen

Early years

Sporting career

See also

Honors

References

External links