Olympic Champion Mete Gazoz to carry Turkish flag on the River Seine

Reigning Olympic Champions archer Mete Gazoz and boxer Busenaz Sürmeneli will carry the Turkish flag during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the River Seine this Friday.

The announcement was made by Türkiye’s youth and sports minister on his social media account.

“It’s an honour for me, and I’m super excited,” Gazoz said. “I can’t wait for the opening ceremony.”

“It’s not the first time – I carried the flag at the European Games as well. But you know the Olympics is very different.”

The 25-year-old brought the nation its first ever Olympic medal in archery when he won the recurve men’s individual event in Tokyo 2020.

Since then, he has also turned into a World Champion in 2023 and a European Champion this year, becoming the first archer in history to hold the three major titles at the same time.

Alongside teammates Berkim Tumer, Abdullah Yildirmis and Elif Gokkir, Mete will be aiming at a medal hat-trick in Paris in the recurve individual, men’s team and mixed events – as did Korea’s An San three years ago – to be the winningest male archer in modern Olympic history.

A total of 102 athletes will represent Türkiye – 54 women and 48 men – in 18 different sports at the 2024 Games. 

The Turkish athletes broke a record of 73 years by returning home from Tokyo with 13 medals, making it the nation’s most successful Olympics.

The archery competition in Paris starts on 25 July.