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Uctas training at the Genclik Merkezi club in the northern city of Bolu. She said she \u201cfell in love\u201d with the sport at age 5.<\/p>\n
BOLU, Turkey \u2014 In this mountain city, cows meander on a dirt road behind the training center where Goksu Uctas, Turkey\u2019s first Olympic gymnast, works on a four-inch balance beam.<\/p>\n
Uctas, right, and the Turkish gymnastics program were barely on the map five years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Five years ago, Uctas and the Turkish gymnastics program were barely on the map. But after a successful showing in January at London\u2019s Olympic test event, Uctas, 22, earned a berth to the Games\u2019 all-around final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always dreamed I would go to the Olympics,\u201d she said, sitting on the floor exercise carpet during a break from training. \u201cI am honored to represent Turkey, to be the first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her inclusion in the Olympics signifies a turning point for the sport. The international gymnastics federation is using London to expand its global reach, by including more solo athletes from countries like Turkey and Vietnam, which is represented by Phan Thi Ha Thanh, the 2011 world vault bronze medalist.<\/p>\n
As part of that quest, the international federation decided to cut the size of teams to five gymnasts from six, limiting the number of athletes sent from traditional powers. Some have argued that the move takes away spots from more qualified athletes.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Uctas\u2019s routines are unlikely to land her on the medals podium \u2014 her levels of difficulty are several points below those of the top gymnasts. Her Yurchenko vault features one and a half twists, compared with at least two for each American vaulter. But her victory is the trip itself.<\/p>\n
At home, the wispy, 5-foot-2 Uctas has been successful in shifting attention to gymnastics in a country where weight lifters and wrestlers reign supreme in Olympic years. Giant posters bearing her image are displayed in Bolu.<\/p>\n
She is sponsored by the British oil company BP and has been profiled by Turkish Vogue, pictured leaping above a beam in diaphanous gymnastics couture. Recognized on the street while running errands, \u201cI know now that they know me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Far from home, she has had to fight the stereotypes that come with a Muslim who performs in a leotard while representing a Muslim country. At the 2007 European championships in Amsterdam, \u201cone of the German coaches came over and asked if she can really wear a leotard, in Turkey, at 17,\u201d her longtime coach, Mergul Guler, said. \u201cThey thought she was running around training in a head scarf.\u201d<\/p>\n
But during a light pre-Olympic workout, Uctas was in the traditional leotard and shorts, showing off her lean, balletic frame.<\/p>\n
Guler said Uctas has the one trait that cannot be taught, one that will help her battle the pressure in London.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows how to compete,\u201d Guler said. \u201cWhen I see her attitude before an event, I already know how she\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The night before a competition, \u201cI talk with God,\u201d Uctas said. \u201cI ask him to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite her current serenity, the road to London was rocky.<\/p>\n
Uctas said she \u201cfell in love\u201d with gymnastics at age 5, when her family lived in the southeast city of Gaziantep. At 9, they were forced from their home by an earthquake that struck northwest Turkey. They spent a year living in a crowded refugee camp, where she practiced simple moves \u2014 headstands and flips \u2014 outside the tents.<\/p>\n
Afterward, she moved to Bolu to train under Guler, the head coach at the Genclik Merkezi club. (Uctas\u2019s training is subsidized by the Turkish government.)<\/p>\n
She was expected to compete in Beijing in 2008 but was sidelined by a leg injury. Last year, a painful neck injury almost finished Uctas\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor said she would have to stop gymnastics,\u201d Guler said. \u201cShe was afraid to do any of her tricks. We have had many moments like this. She\u2019s been afraid of the vault. It\u2019s psychological.\u201d<\/p>\n
For eight months, Uctas had physical therapy almost daily before re-emerging in August at the Ghent Challenger Cup in Belgium. She fell on every apparatus.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had lost all motivation,\u201d Guler said.<\/p>\n
A lifelong goal of competing at the Games \u2014 she wears the Olympic rings on a necklace and drew them on her bedroom wall \u2014 helped her get back on track. So did encouragement from Vanessa Ferrari, the 2006 world all-around champion from Italy, whom Uctas has visited to train with a few times.<\/p>\n
By October, Uctas performed well enough at the world championships in Tokyo to be invited to the Olympic test event.<\/p>\n
There, Uctas performed in vault, beam, floor exercise and uneven bars, her weakest event, without major error. Based on those scores, the gymnastics federation granted her an Olympic berth.<\/p>\n
Upon hearing the news, she said, \u201cWe jumped up and down and screamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In London, she will live in the Olympic Village, where she is most excited to meet the sprinter Usain Bolt and N.B.A. basketball stars.<\/p>\n
It will be a welcome break from a regimented life in Bolu, where she lives in a dormitory across the street from the gym. She trains twice a day, six days a week. Uctas shares a bedroom with the club\u2019s two other elite gymnasts. Though they claim not to be concerned about weight, a scale sits prominently in the center of the room, a tub of protein powder on the dresser.<\/p>\n
Uctas left Bolu on a brutally hot afternoon, en route to Istanbul and a banquet for athletes with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The flight to London left the next day.<\/p>\n
Although it was the first week of the holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from all food and drink until sundown, Guler said, \u201cThere\u2019s no Ramadan for gymnasts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uctas training at the Genclik Merkezi club in the northern city of Bolu. She said she \u201cfell in love\u201d with the sport at age 5. By KAREN LEIGH Published: July 28, 2012 BOLU, Turkey \u2014 In this mountain city, cows meander on a dirt road behind the training center where Goksu Uctas, Turkey\u2019s first Olympic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":54829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3996],"tags":[7236],"class_list":["post-54828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-london-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}