By Yavuz YAVUZ
Oran Olympic Stadium hosted the athletics races of the 2022 Mediterranean Games. Over the course of four days, the track and field of the city of Oran witnessed the rise of Turkey to the top rank of the medal table for the first time, the hosts enjoying the home advantage in their rivalry with the North African athletics powerhouse of Morocco and the rise of a new sprint star from Egypt among many other memorable moments. Here is a wrap-up of the Oran 2022 athletics event.
BEST SHOW FROM THE TURKS
Turkey enjoyed a great first day at the athletics which propelled the country to the top rank of the eventual medal table of the athletics event for the first time in any Mediterranean Games. Kıvılcım Kaya-Salman raised the curtain as she repeated her silver medal from Tarragona 2018 at the women’s hammer throw event by throwing a PB of 69.82, only to be surpassed by Laura Mora of Spain at the final attempt. 20-year-old Özlem Becerek produced another highlight as she improved her PB by more than two-and-a-half metres by throwing 61.96 at the women’s discus throw final, which was also a national U23 record.
The golden moment of the opening day for Turkey was the men’s 100m final where Jak Ali Harvey became the second athlete to have won two consecutive 100m golds, with Italy’s sprint legend Pietro Mennea inaugurating the feat in 1975 and 1979. Ramil Guliyev finished the race second, occupying two steps of the podium for Turkey.
Ramil Guliyev also carried Turkey on the men’s 4x100 relay podium with an anchor leg sprint that ensured a silver medal. The other half of the athletics power couple, Ekaterina Guliyev enjoyed a gold medal at the women’s 800m event and was also influential in the women’s 4x400 relay bronze of Turkey. At the men’s 4x400 relay, İsmail Nezir, who became only the third Turkish athlete to run a sub-50-second 400m hurdles race at the series earlier, shined with his anchor leg carrying his team to bronze medal position.
Turkish athletes also made Games history by renewing championship records. Yasmani Copello Escobar, who was the silver medallist of Tarragona 2018, improved the championship record of men’s 400m hurdles to 48.27 to win the gold medal by keeping France’s Ludvy Vaillant, winner from four years ago and former record holder. Olympic finalist Ersu Şaşma brought Turkey its first pole vault medal of the Games history by improving the championship record to 5.75 for gold.
Özkan Baltacı’s men’s hammer throw gold and the silver of Turkey’s star triple jumper Tuğba Danışmaz contributed to the overall medal tally of 7 golds, 5 silvers and 3 bronze medals which catapulted the country to the top of the medal table.
HOME SWEET HOME
Algeria finished the Games with 5 gold medals and 13 medals in total, with the third spot at the medal table being the country’s best place in over 30 years. The hosts made good on their home advantage with a significant improvement from only one silver and one bronze medal from four years ago.
Yasser Triki, who turned on spotlights after his fifth-place finish at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, leapt to the gold medal with a 17.07m jump on home court. Triki’s long jump bronze also contributed to the expansion of the hosts’ overall medal tally.
There were two podiums at the Games where the hosts occupied two spots: men’s 800m and men’s 3000m steeplechase races. While Djamel Sedjati and Yassine Hethat ruled the very hasty 800m race, Bilal Tebti ran for the 3000m steeplechase gold in what was a reminiscent of the historic home win of Boualem Rahoui at Algiers 1975, whereas Hichem Bouchica was placed third. The absence of Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, the Olympic gold medallist and the winner from four years ago, helped the Algerians cheer up the home crowd.
Algerian men’s 4x400 quartet brought the country its first relay gold since Bari 1997. At the men’s high jump race, the 21-year-old Bilel Afer made history as he brought Algeria its fourth gold medal of the Games history at this discipline, after a long wait of over 20 years since the last one by Abderrahman Hammad at Tunis 2001. Hammer thrower Zouina Bouzebra won the only medal for the hosts at the women’s athletics events of Oran 2022. Bouzebra’s bronze was also the first throwing medal of Algeria at the Games since Tunis 1967.
While Morocco, the leader of the medal table of Tarragona 2018, lived up to its general standards in terms of total medals (13), the drop form eight gold medals to two in Oran 2022 helped Algeria above their neighbours and rivals.
SHINE OF A EGYPTIAN WOMAN
2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran witnessed the first medals won by Egyptian athletes in women’s races. While Esraa Owis won a silver medal at the long jump by reaching 6.54m, Bassant Hemida achieved a spectacular sprint double by breaking the championship record at both 100m and 200m races.
Hemida’s 22.47 at the women’s 200m race also set a national record with the 25-year-old also holding the national record of 100m. While Hemida’s were Egypt’s sole track golds at the Mediterranea Games after Amr Ibrahim Moustafa Seoud’s men’s 200m victory during Pescara 2009, they catapulted to country to their best result ever on the medal table.
GREEK DECLINE
Greece, the best-performing country of the Games’ history after Italy and France, saw a continued decline by failing to win a gold medal for the second consecutive Mediterranean Games. With only one silver and three bronze medals, Greece only managed to surpass Syria and Tunisia at the medal table.
Ioannis Rizos kept the Greek pole vaulting tradition alive with a bronze, bringing the country its 10th medal at the event. Tatiana Gousin was the best performing Greek athlete with a silver medal at the women’s high jump event.
SMALL STEPS, GIANT LEAPS...
More athletes enjoyed firsts for themselves and their countries at the 2022 Mediterranean Games. Luiza Gega, for instance, who left her mark on the Balkan Games this year as well, won the women’s 3000m steeplechase race by clocking a championship record-breaking 9:14.29. This was the second gold for Albania at the Games, the first being Gega’s as well four years ago.
Cyprus enjoyed its best ever Mediterranean Games with winning two medals of each colour. While this was the second consecutive Games with two golds for Cyprus, former European Indoor champion Milan Trajkovic was on top of the men’s 110m hurdles podium.
Montenegro’s Marija Vukovic, a former world U20 champion, won the country’s first ever gold medal of the Games’ history, at the women’s high jump event.
Azeddin Habz of France won the gold medal at the men’s 1500m race, which was the first gold in the event for France in 42 years, the last being in Split 1979 by Jose Marajo.
However, the Games’ best-performing nations, Italy and France still witnessed declines in certain areas. Italy, despite winning the most medals (18), earned the least number of golds in its history with only five. France, with four golds and 13 medals in total, was placed fourth and had its third lowest eventual medals in history.
Spain and Tunisia saw one of their worst performances in the history of the Games with the former winning only one gold medal and the latter placing at the bottom of the medal table with a single (silver) medal.
