Süreyya Ayhan Kop (born September 6, 1978) is a Turkish former female middle distance track runner who specialised in the
1500 metres
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...
. In November 2009, she was banned for life by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) due to her second anti- doping rule violation.
Ayhan ran for the sports clubs MTA Ankara and Fenerbahçe Istanbul. She then joined the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club. She holds Turkish records in 800 m (2:00.64) and 1500 m (3:55.33). She became the first Turkish woman ever to reach an Olympic semi-final during her participation in 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 1 ...
in Sydney, Australia. The next year, she became the first Turkish woman to reach a World Championship final. She was the best European woman athlete running 1500 m in two consecutive years 2002 and 2003.
Athletics career
Early career
Ayhan's father is a former amateur athlete, a local
cross-country
Cross country or cross-country may refer to:
Places
* Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland
* Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY
* Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...
runner. He was a role model and supporter for Süreyya when she started athletics in the
junior high school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...
Korgun
Korgun is a town in Çankırı Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Korgun District
Korgun District is a district of the Çankırı Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Korgun.Çankırı, she established herself as Turkey's top 1500 m runner with a win at the 1999 national championships, setting a Turkish record. The following year she became the country's first female semi-finalist at the Olympic Games. She reached the final of the
2001 World Championships in Athletics
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...
(another first for Turkish female athletes), became the Universiade 1500 m champion and won a silver at the
2001 Mediterranean Games
The XIV Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 2001), commonly known as the 2001 Mediterranean Games, were the 14th Mediterranean Games held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 2-15 September 2001, where 2,991 athletes ( ...
.
World-class breakthrough
In 2002, she won Turkey's first
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
in a European Championships by out-sprinting World and Olympics champion Gabriela Szabo from Romania for the 1500 m title 2 seconds ahead with 3:58.79, leading from the gun to the finish. She improved further in 2003, taking two seconds off her personal best winning a silver medal in the 1500 m final of the 2003 World Championships.
Doping ban
Ayhan, one of Turkey's best hopes for a gold medal at the
2004 Athens Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
, withdrew from the games due to an injured tendon during a training in Germany.
Allegations that Ayhan may have attempted to cheat on a pre-Olympic doping test surfaced in August after testers reportedly complained of being obstructed from carrying out their work. She was cleared of doping allegations by the
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
, but she violated rules while taking her test. IAAF ruled that Ayhan had not taken performance-enhancing
drugs
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
, but said the athlete had broken testing rules, and she was banned for two years.
She returned to competition but failed another test while she was training in the United States in November 2007, this time after her sample tested positive for the
steroid
A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...
s stanozolol and methandienone metabolites. This second offence meant she received a lifetime ban from the sport, but she contested the ruling, taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her ban to four years. Ayhan took the banning to the CAS in Lausanne,Süreyya Ayhan Kop'un Davası Nethaber, 18 January 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2019. however the international court reversed the decision in November 2009, upholding the lifetime ban.Turkish star Kop handed life ban BBC Sport, November 11, 2009
Dedications
On May 26, 2003, The Turkish Mint issued a 925 silver commemoration coin worth of 10 US dollars in honor of her.