By Yavuz YAVUZ from Istanbul

The home crowd of Turkey’s Ataköy Athletics Arena let out a celebratory roar as Dariya Derkach, the Italian triple jumper who was in second place coming into her final attempt at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul, landed in frustration to a modest 11.87 metres. This result sealed the gold medal for Turkey’s Tuğba Danışmaz, who did not only clinch the country’s first ever podium spot in a European Indoors field event by beating Derkach, as well as the defending champion Patricia Mamona -who settled for bronze this time- but also gave what perhaps resembled the most to a good news for the people in Turkey who still could not shake off the shock of the twin earthquakes that struck the south-eastern region nearly a month earlier.

Tuğba Danışmaz was seemingly relieved with elevated shoulders as if some burden lifted off of them as she appeared in the mixed zone. She expressed mixed feelings like an accomplishment in the making finally came true which, at the same time, still seemed like a dream. “It’s as if I’m still competing, I still need time digesting it” she says, panting. Given the place of triple jump in Turkey’s international athletics history and the circumstances under which the gold medal is won, it is safe to say that this is a result loaded with the record of both past and present.

HOP

The cover of the official programme booklet of the 2023 Euro Indoors bears the silhouette of the triple jumper Ruhi Sarıalp, who won the country’s first-ever Olympic medal in athletics 75 years ago. When Sarıalp won bronze medal with a leap of 15.025 metres in his fourth attempt, he carved his name into Turkey’s athletics past.

Ironically, the press coverage that this historic result received in Turkey ranged from very little to none in the publications, as most of the Turkish journalists were at the football match in Green Pond Road, 25 kilometres west to the Wembley Stadium where Sarıalp jumped into history, to watch the Turkish team beat China and advance to quarterfinals. Sarıalp repeated the feat two years later to win Turkey’s first-ever continental medal in athletics at the 1950 European Championships in Brussels.

While the country had to wait 73 years for another European medal in triple jump, this time, the press boxes had fewer empty seats to witness Danışmaz leap for the continental title, as she became a familiar face for the athletics journalists in Turkey in the last few years.

STEP

Born in Ankara, Tuğba Danışmaz started training with renowned athletics coach of Turkey, Cahit Yüksel in late 2018 and began improving her marks steadily. She first made a name for herself internationally with the European U23 silver medal she won in 2019, which was also Turkey’s first triple jump medal in the championships’ history. From that year onwards, she began a national outdoor championship streak that is still ongoing for four straight years.

Two years later, two months after becoming Turkey’s first athlete to surpass the 14-meter threshold in women’s triple jump, she climbed one step up on the Euro U23 podium to win the gold medal while at the same time improving her own national outdoor record to 14.09. Danışmaz’s European U23 championship in 2021 was also the first field title of Turkey in the championships’ 24-year history.

JUMP

Beginning her 2023 season as the Mediterranean Games silver-medallist and the national indoor champion, Tuğba Danışmaz changed her username on Twitter to ‘gold medal’ as an expression of the goal she set for herself before taking the stage in front of her home crowd in the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

However, along with the rest of the country, she was shaken with the news of the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on 6 February. While the mourning brought the sporting events, including the Turkish National Indoor Championships, to a halt, Tuğba was sceptical about continuing training. When asked about what this medal might mean to the people in Turkey during this time, she takes a long break before giving an answer: “There were times when we thought that carrying on would be selfish. But my fellow triple jumpers abroad, with their messages of support, convinced me that a medal would perhaps provide a glimmer of hope.”

And the medal was a gold one. Turkey, a country that fared historically better in middle-distance races indoors, finally stepped on a podium in a field event. This was also Turkey’s third European Indoors gold medal in total, following Alemitu Bekele’s and Ali Kaya’s 3000m titles in 2009 and 2015, respectively.

Danışmaz, by jumping to 14.31 on her first attempt, set a new outright national record, which is also a progression of her own previous national indoor record by 16 centimeters. In doing so, she particularly felt the support of an enthusiastic crowd on the stands, which saw a greater number of seats filled compared to the previous nights of the championship. “The support of the spectators was beyond my expectations; I just did what I had to do” she said.

Now that the indoor season is over, Danışmaz is looking forward to a good holiday. But for the rest of the year, she set her eyes on the World Championship in Budapest. Last year, Danışmaz saw an outdoor jump of 14.42 meters discarded due to wind assistance and now she has eyes on improving her own outdoor record of 14.09 to a new overall record: “Just wait for the summer, I’m coming."