Turkish head of the Olympic delegation Mehmet Atalay said Wednesday when arrived in Beijing that the country's athletes would try to grab five golds and more than ten medals at the forthcoming Beijing Olympics.
"Beijing Olympic Games is a very important sports event and that's why we attache so much importance to the Games and send our biggest ever delegation to participate in", Atalay said in an interview with Xinhua at the airport, expressing his hope that the country could win more medals than it did four years ago in Athens.
Turkish athletes won 10 medals, including four gold, three silver and three bronze medals, in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Atalay, who is also the head of the Youth and Sports Directorate, added that weightlifting and wrestling would be Turkey's trump cards.
Naim Suleymanoglu set the Turkish weightlifting bandwagon rolling 20 years ago. Suleymanoglu's triple Olympic victory was followed by yet another three-medal haul by Halil Mutlu and, even though these two legends will not compete in Beijing, Turkey has athletes to count on, especially Taner Sagir.
Sagir began to write the story of success in Athens, becoming an Olympic winner at the age of 19. Now he eyes his second gold medal, dismissing claims that an injury would keep him out of the Olympics.
One of the names that are touted the most for winning a gold medal is Nurcan Taylan, who will compete against her fellow Turk, Sibel Ozkan, in the women's 48-kilogram category. The country's first-ever woman Olympic medallist, Taylan looks to defend her title.
"My training is good and I'm ready to win again", Taylan told reporters at the airport.
The Turkish delegation is composed of 106 members, among which 68 are athletes.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)