Ferhat Arican, who won Turkey’s first-ever Olympic medal in gymnastics with a bronze on Tuesday, said his sport is a bit like clearing landmines when it comes to the concentration, dedication and balance required.
The two-time Olympian, who has taken part in the UN Development Programme’s social media campaigns on mine clearance, hopes his success will bring more attention to social issues.
“Gymnastics is a very difficult discipline that requires the utmost concentration, dedication, balance and orientation. It takes years to learn how to do a move, and you only have seconds to demonstrate your years of work,” the 28-year-old said outside the Olympic Village in Tokyo.
Photo: Reuters
“There is no room for error. On the other hand, there are occupations where your first error is your last one. I always think about those who dedicate their lives to demining operations. They are so similar in terms of need for perfection, yet so different,” he said.
Arican was drawn to the issue out of his own interest, and not because of any personal loss or family issue, an official at Turkey’s Olympic committee said.
There were at least 5,554 casualties from mines or explosive remnants of war in 2019, with civilians accounting for 80 percent of those, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Children represented more than 40 percent of all civilian casualties.
Arican, who struck gold on the parallel bars at this year’s European Championships shortly after testing positive for COVID-19, also uses a metal water bottle to draw attention to the use of plastics and global warming.
In Tokyo, he ended with the bronze in the men’s parallel bars.
Turkey has won six medals so far at the Olympics, with Mete Gazoz taking gold in men’s individual archery.
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
RSS