Sibel Güler Sağır (born September 28, 1984) is a Turkish

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

practitioner. She is a four-time medalist and two-time defending champion at the

European Taekwondo Championships The European Taekwondo Championships are the European senior championships in Taekwondo, first held in Barcelona in 1976. The event is held every two years and is organized by the European Taekwondo Union, the continental affiliate of World Taek ...

since 2004. She also claimed the middleweight division title at the

2005 Summer Universiade The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey, in August. Emblem The emblem is the letter "U", inspired by the bird's-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir. This shape has perfectly fit the letter ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, but won a silver medal at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, with pr ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, losing out to Chinese Taipei's Lin An-Ni in the final match. Guler competed for the women's middleweight category (67 kg) at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, after defeating Greek taekwondo jin and Olympic silver medalist Elisavet Mystakidou in the final match of the European Qualification Tournament in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. She lost the first preliminary match to Argentina's Vanina Sánchez, who was able to score four points at the end of the game.

Family life

She was born to Cevat Güler and his wife Gülten, a Turkish family in Bulgaria. Sibel has a brother Sunay. Sibel Güler was interested in swimming before she immigrated to Turkey with her family in 1989. During her school years in Turkey, she played in the volleyball team. In 1995, she began with taekwondo supported by her mother. With gaining success, she was transferred to TSE club in Ankara. Güler studied at the School of Physical Education and Sports of

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

graduating in 2008. She has been a member of the Turkish women's national taekwondo team since 2000. On August 30, 2008, she married

Taner Sağır Taner Sağır (born 13 March 1985 in Kardzhali, Bulgaria) is a Turkish world and Olympic weightlifting champion. Coming into Athens as holder of all the junior world records at the age of only 19, he broke the Olympic records in the category &nda ...

, a world and Olympic weightlifting champion and a fellow immigrant from Bulgaria. The couple has a child. The family resides in Ankara in a street named after Sağır.

References

External links

*
NBC 2008 Olympics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guler, Sibel 1984 births Living people Turkish female taekwondo practitioners Bulgarian Turks in Turkey Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Turkey Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics Ankara University alumni Turkish female martial artists Summer World University Games medalists in taekwondo FISU World University Games gold medalists for Turkey FISU World University Games silver medalists for Turkey European Taekwondo Championships medalists Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Place of birth missing (living people)