Sureyya Ayhan
Encyclopedia
Süreyya Ayhan Kop is a Turkish
former middle distance
track runner who specialised in the 1500 metres
. In November 2009, she was banned for lifetime by the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS) due to failing a doping test.
Ayhan ran for the sports clubs MTA Ankara and Fenerbahçe Istanbul
. She then joined the Gaziantep
Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club. She holds Turkish records in 800 m (2:00.64) and 1500 m (3:55.33). She became the first Turkish woman ever to reach an Olympic semi-final during her participation in the 2000 Summer Olympics
in Sydney, Australia. The next year, she became the first Turkish woman to reach a World Championship final. She was the best European woman athlete running 1500 m in two consecutive years 2002 and 2003.
champion of her hometown Çankırı
. He was both a role model and supporter for young Süreyya when she started athletics in the junior high school. In 1992, she started running competitively at the Athletics Training Center in Çankırı. "It was during a local championship and there my present coach
Yücel Kop discovered me. I loved running since I was a little girl. I think it is the only activity that evolves and I still do" she said once. She graduated from the Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi in sport
and physical education
.
Born in Korgun
, Çankırı
, she established herself as Turkey's top 1500 m runner with a win at the 1999 national championships, setting a Turkish record
. The following year she became the country's first female semi-finalist at the Olympic Games. She reached the final of the 2001 World Championships in Athletics
(another first for Turkish female athletes), became the Universiade
1500 m champion and won a silver at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
.
in a European Championships by out-sprinting the celebrated World and Olympics champion Gabriela Szabo
from Romania for the 1500 m title 2 seconds ahead with 3:58.79, leading from the gun to the finish. She was later named the 2002 European Female Athlete of the Year and finished that year on top of the world 1500 m rankings. The Turkish track star has been a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program since November 2001.
She improved further in 2003, taking two seconds off her personal best to again feature as the year's fastest woman and winning a silver medal in the 1500 m final
of the 2003 World Championships
.
Anticipation built up prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics
, but she withdrew due to an injury. However, drug testers were obstructed in their duties during a routine drug test around this period and she was suspended from competitive athletics for two years for breaking testing rules. She returned to competition but failed another test in November 2007, this time after her sample tested positive for the steroids stanozolol
and methandienone metabolites. This second offence meant she received a lifetime ban from the sport but she contested the ruling, taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS). An independent tribunal reduced her ban to four years but the CAS reversed the decision, upholding the lifetime ban and thus forcing her to retire.
during a training in Germany
. Allegations that Ayhan may have attempted to cheat on a pre-Olympic doping
test surfaced in August after testers reportedly complained of being obstructed from carrying out their work. She was cleared of doping allegations by the IAAF, but the athlete violated rules while taking her test. IAAF ruled that Ayhan had not taken performance-enhancing drugs
, but said the athlete had broken testing rules, and she was banned for two years. Her trainer, Yucel Kop, who is also her husband, has long rejected cheating allegations, but acknowledged obstructing a male tester from entering a room during a urine
test. "It doesn't mean that we won't be punished" Kop said. "(But) there was no doping, no switching of samples, (just) violation of rules" he added. "I will not give up (running) until I have experienced an Olympic championship" Ayhan said.
She returned to competition but failed another test while she was training in the United States
in November 2007, this time after her sample tested positive for the steroids stanozolol
and methandienone metabolites. This second offence meant she received a lifetime ban from the sport but she contested the ruling, taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS). The Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her ban to four years. Ayhan took the banning to the CAS in Lausanne
, however the international court reversed the decision in November 2009, upholding the lifetime ban and thus forcing her to retire.
. Ayhan's affair with Kop, a married man with children, had gained such unproportional media coverage in 2002 that it had become the subject of parliamentary debate when an AKP
deputy
directed questions to a State Minister. "How could the Minister keep a coach, who exploits his trainee, on duty?". The Minister's response was to start investigation against the coach and the athlete. Promising that they will marry, the two saved their career. The conservatist pressure on Ayhan aroused the anger of women's rights activists. One of them writer Vivet Kanetti dedicated her book to Sureyya titling a collection of articles on women Run Süreyya Run. Kop and Ayhan married, although Kop's wife at first refused to divorce, but the voice of the critics is now hardly heard as Ayhan has won the hearts of all Turks with her courageous run as well as her courageous stand against the charges. "Mine is not a personal victory. We worked hard with my coach who is my love, my teacher, my father and my everything".
On May 26, 2003, The Turkish Mint issued a 925 silver
commemoration coin
worth of 10 US dollars in honor of the 2002 European 1500 m champion.
The Turkish Post Office printed a commemorative stamp
in conjunction with the Summer Olympic Games in Athens with a picture of Süreyya Ayhan that came in circulation on August 13, 2004. The Post Office broke so with an unwritten tradition for issuing stamps of past personalities only.
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
former middle distance
Middle distance track event
Middle distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle distance event. The 880 yard run, or half mile, was the forebear to the...
track runner who specialised in the 1500 metres
1500 metres
The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...
. In November 2009, she was banned for lifetime by the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
(CAS) due to failing a doping test.
Ayhan ran for the sports clubs MTA Ankara and Fenerbahçe Istanbul
Fenerbahçe Athletics
Fenerbahçe Athletics is the men's and women's athletics section of Fenerbahçe S.K., a major sports club in Istanbul, Turkey.Fenerbahçe Athletics use Dereağzı Facilities.-Technical staff:-Men's squad:* Oğuz Akça* Halil Akkaş* Caner Alagöz...
. She then joined the Gaziantep
Gaziantep
Gaziantep , Ottoman Turkish: Ayintab) previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria...
Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club. She holds Turkish records in 800 m (2:00.64) and 1500 m (3:55.33). She became the first Turkish woman ever to reach an Olympic semi-final during her participation in the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
in Sydney, Australia. The next year, she became the first Turkish woman to reach a World Championship final. She was the best European woman athlete running 1500 m in two consecutive years 2002 and 2003.
Early career
Ayhan's father is a former amateur athlete, a local cross-countryCross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
champion of her hometown Çankırı
Çankırı
-Agriculture:Various produce like wheat, corn, beans, apple etc. are grown in the farms, and fields that are rich of water.-Industry:Most of the industry is located near the city center and Korgun. Other towns that are in the industrial map of the city are Şabanözü, Çerkeş, Ilgaz, Kurşunlu, and...
. He was both a role model and supporter for young Süreyya when she started athletics in the junior high school. In 1992, she started running competitively at the Athletics Training Center in Çankırı. "It was during a local championship and there my present coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
Yücel Kop discovered me. I loved running since I was a little girl. I think it is the only activity that evolves and I still do" she said once. She graduated from the Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi in sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
and physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
.
Born in Korgun
Korgun
Korgun is a town and district of Çankırı Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey.-References:-External links:*...
, Çankırı
Çankiri Province
Çankırı Province is a province of Turkey, which lies close to the capital, Ankara. The provincial capital is Çankırı.-Economy:Çankırı is primarily agricultural with wheat, beans, corn and tomatoes the most common crops.-Climate:...
, she established herself as Turkey's top 1500 m runner with a win at the 1999 national championships, setting a Turkish record
Turkish records in athletics
The following are the national records in athletics in Turkey maintained by Turkey's national athletics federation: Türkiye Atletizm Federasyonu .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:ht = hand timing# = not officially ratifiedA = affected by altitude...
. The following year she became the country's first female semi-finalist at the Olympic Games. She reached the final of the 2001 World Championships in Athletics
2001 World Championships in Athletics
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America...
(another first for Turkish female athletes), became the Universiade
Universiade
The Universiade is an International multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation . The name is a combination of the words "University" and "olympiad"...
1500 m champion and won a silver at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
2001 Mediterranean Games
The 14th edition of the Mediterranean Games were held in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, from 2 to 15 September 2001. Twenty three nations competed in 23 different sporting events. France won the most gold medals in the competition while Italy had the greatest medal haul overall with 136 in...
.
World-class breakthrough
Prior to the 2002 European Championships in Munich, Ayhan was unknown outside of Turkey. In 2002, she produced a great performance to win Turkey's first gold medalGold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
in a European Championships by out-sprinting the celebrated World and Olympics champion Gabriela Szabo
Gabriela Szabo
Gabriela Szabo is a Romanian track and field athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics in 5000 m and winner of bronze and silver medals in 1996 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics in 1500 m, respectively....
from Romania for the 1500 m title 2 seconds ahead with 3:58.79, leading from the gun to the finish. She was later named the 2002 European Female Athlete of the Year and finished that year on top of the world 1500 m rankings. The Turkish track star has been a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program since November 2001.
She improved further in 2003, taking two seconds off her personal best to again feature as the year's fastest woman and winning a silver medal in the 1500 m final
2003 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 1500 metres
These are the official results of the Women's 1500 metres event at the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Paris, France. There were a total number of 32 participating athletes, with three qualifying heats, two semi-finals and the final held on Sunday 31 August 2003 at 18:20h.-Final:-Semi-Final:*Held...
of the 2003 World Championships
2003 World Championships in Athletics
The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...
.
Anticipation built up prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
, but she withdrew due to an injury. However, drug testers were obstructed in their duties during a routine drug test around this period and she was suspended from competitive athletics for two years for breaking testing rules. She returned to competition but failed another test in November 2007, this time after her sample tested positive for the steroids stanozolol
Stanozolol
Stanozolol, commonly sold under the name Winstrol , Tenabol and Winstrol Depot , was developed by Winthrop Laboratories in 1962...
and methandienone metabolites. This second offence meant she received a lifetime ban from the sport but she contested the ruling, taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
(CAS). An independent tribunal reduced her ban to four years but the CAS reversed the decision, upholding the lifetime ban and thus forcing her to retire.
Doping ban
Süreyya Ayhan, one of Turkey's best hopes for a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, withdrew from the games due to an injured tendonTendon
A tendon is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae as they are all made of collagen except that ligaments join one bone to another bone, and fasciae connect muscles to other...
during a training in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Allegations that Ayhan may have attempted to cheat on a pre-Olympic doping
Doping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...
test surfaced in August after testers reportedly complained of being obstructed from carrying out their work. She was cleared of doping allegations by the IAAF, but the athlete violated rules while taking her test. IAAF ruled that Ayhan had not taken performance-enhancing drugs
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
, but said the athlete had broken testing rules, and she was banned for two years. Her trainer, Yucel Kop, who is also her husband, has long rejected cheating allegations, but acknowledged obstructing a male tester from entering a room during a urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
test. "It doesn't mean that we won't be punished" Kop said. "(But) there was no doping, no switching of samples, (just) violation of rules" he added. "I will not give up (running) until I have experienced an Olympic championship" Ayhan said.
She returned to competition but failed another test while she was training in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in November 2007, this time after her sample tested positive for the steroids stanozolol
Stanozolol
Stanozolol, commonly sold under the name Winstrol , Tenabol and Winstrol Depot , was developed by Winthrop Laboratories in 1962...
and methandienone metabolites. This second offence meant she received a lifetime ban from the sport but she contested the ruling, taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
(CAS). The Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her ban to four years. Ayhan took the banning to the CAS in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, however the international court reversed the decision in November 2009, upholding the lifetime ban and thus forcing her to retire.
Social role
Ayhan was a prominent Turkish sportswoman in a country which has a low female participation rate. Turkey's sports branches had a total 65,948 licensed women athletes and track and field was a minor sport; she was one of only 1632 licensed woman athletes, in a country with 35 million women population. Her success raised the profile of the sport in her country.Personal life
Ayhan challenged the criticisms of her love affair with her coach Yucel Kop, a former cross-country skierCross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
. Ayhan's affair with Kop, a married man with children, had gained such unproportional media coverage in 2002 that it had become the subject of parliamentary debate when an AKP
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...
deputy
Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of deputies is the name given to a legislative body such as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or can refer to a unicameral legislature.-Description:...
directed questions to a State Minister. "How could the Minister keep a coach, who exploits his trainee, on duty?". The Minister's response was to start investigation against the coach and the athlete. Promising that they will marry, the two saved their career. The conservatist pressure on Ayhan aroused the anger of women's rights activists. One of them writer Vivet Kanetti dedicated her book to Sureyya titling a collection of articles on women Run Süreyya Run. Kop and Ayhan married, although Kop's wife at first refused to divorce, but the voice of the critics is now hardly heard as Ayhan has won the hearts of all Turks with her courageous run as well as her courageous stand against the charges. "Mine is not a personal victory. We worked hard with my coach who is my love, my teacher, my father and my everything".
Dedications
Sterling silver
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925....
commemoration coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
worth of 10 US dollars in honor of the 2002 European 1500 m champion.
The Turkish Post Office printed a commemorative stamp
Commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...
in conjunction with the Summer Olympic Games in Athens with a picture of Süreyya Ayhan that came in circulation on August 13, 2004. The Post Office broke so with an unwritten tradition for issuing stamps of past personalities only.
Personal bests
| Event | Time (min Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... ) |
Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 metres 800 metres The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps... |
2:00.64 | Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and... , Turkey |
August 20, 2000 |
| 1500 metres 1500 metres The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could... |
3:55.33 | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Belgium |
September 5, 2003 |
Progression
| Season | Time (min Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... ) |
Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 2003 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2003.The foremost competition of the year was the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, followed by the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships... |
3:55:33 | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Belgium |
September 5, 2003 |
| 2002 2002 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2002.There was no primary championships that season, although continental championships were held in Africa, Asia and Europe. The foremost athletics competitions at... |
3:57:75 | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Belgium |
August 30, 2002 |
| 2001 2001 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2001.The foremost competition of the season was the 2001 World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton, Canada... |
4:06.91 | Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , China |
August 29, 2001 |
| 2000 2000 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2000.The primary athletics competition for the 2000 season was at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.-World:... |
4:03:02 | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Belgium |
August 25, 2000 |
| 1999 1999 in athletics (track and field) This page shows the main events during the 1999 year in athletics throughout the world.-International Events:* All-Africa Games* Balkan Games* Central American and Caribbean Championships* Pan American Games* Pan Arab Games... |
4:14:80 | İzmir Izmir Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey... , Turkey |
May 12, 1999 |
Competition record
| ECR | European Championships record | NR | National record Turkish records in athletics The following are the national records in athletics in Turkey maintained by Turkey's national athletics federation: Türkiye Atletizm Federasyonu .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:ht = hand timing# = not officially ratifiedA = affected by altitude... |
PB | Personal best |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Result | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Turkish Stars Indoor Championship | İzmir Izmir Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey... , Turkey |
1st | 800 m | 2:18 NR |
| 1995 | Memorial Cezmi Or | Istanbul, Turkey | 5th | 1500 m | 4:38:29 |
| European Champion Clubs Cup | Belgium | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:37:23 | |
| 1996 | International Juniors Championships | Austria | 2nd | ||
| Israeli Championships | Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... |
1st | 1500 m | 4:34:84 | |
| European Champion Clubs Cup | Italy | 2nd | |||
| 1997 | Israeli Championships | Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with... , Israel |
1st | ||
| International Seniors Championships | Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... |
3rd | 1500 m | 4:25:51 | |
| 1998 | 5th Balkan Indoor Track Championships | Pireaus, Greece | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:31:13 |
| Memorial Cezmi Or | Istanbul, Turkey | 6th | 1000 m | 2:46:26 NR | |
| 1999 | Turkish Athletics Championships | İzmir, Turkey | 1st | 1500 m | 4:14:00 NR |
| 2000 | Clubs National Athletics Championships | Istanbul, Turkey | 1st | 800 m | 2:00:64 |
| Memorial van Damme Memorial Van Damme Memorial van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium that takes place in late August or early September... |
Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Belgium |
? | 1500 m | 4:03:02 NR | |
| 27th Summer Olympic Games 2000 Summer Olympics The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia... |
Sydney, Australia | (semifinal) 8th | 1500 m | 4:09:42 | |
| Balkan Indoor Championships | Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... |
2nd | 1500 m | 4:05:53 NR | |
| 2001 | Romanian Open Championships | Romania | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:05:82 |
| IAAF World Championships in Athletics IAAF World Championships in Athletics The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations . Originally, it was organised every four years, but this changed in 1991, and it has since been organised biennially.-History:... |
Edmonton, Canada | 8th | 1500 m | 4:08:17 | |
| Universiade 2001 Summer Universiade The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, People's Republic of China, between the 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 sports... |
Beijing, China | 1st | 1500 m | 4:06:91 | |
| Mediterranean Games 2001 Mediterranean Games The 14th edition of the Mediterranean Games were held in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, from 2 to 15 September 2001. Twenty three nations competed in 23 different sporting events. France won the most gold medals in the competition while Italy had the greatest medal haul overall with 136 in... |
Tunis Tunis Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants.... , Tunisia Tunisia Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area... |
2nd | 1500 m | 4:10:69 | |
| 2002 | European Athletics Championships | Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... , Germany |
1st | 1500 m | 3:58:79 ECR NR |
| Memorial van Damme | Brussels, Belgium | 1st | 1500 m | 3:57:75 PB NR | |
| ISTAF | Berlin, Germany | 1st | 1500 m | 3:58:43 | |
| IAAF World Cup in Athletics IAAF World Cup in Athletics The IAAF Continental Cup is an international athletics competition which comprises track and field events. It is the only world cup contested by teams representing entire continents, rather than just those of individual nations... |
Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... , Spain |
1st | 1500 m | 4:02:57 | |
| 2003 | European Nations Cup | 1st | 1500 m | 4:06:63 | |
| ISTAF | Berlin, Germany | 1st | 1500 m | 3:59:58 | |
| Weltklasse Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich is an annual track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. One of the first large-scale international athletics events , it is sometimes referred to as the one day... |
Zurich Zürich Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich... , Switzerland |
1st | 1500 m | 3:55:60 NR | |
| IAAF World Championships in Athletics | Paris St-Denis, France | 2nd | 1500 m | 3:59:04 | |
| Memorial van Damme | Brussels, Belgium | 1st | 1500 m | 3:55:33 PB NR | |
| IAAF World Athletics Final IAAF World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the IAAF World Athletics Series and was the culmination of the... |
Monaco Monaco Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the... |
1st | 1500 m | 3:57:72 |