#umit samiloglu

[tutyayilmazz]

News clip with Ümit Şamiloğlu after his recent retirement, translated by me:

"The Mediterranean Games held in Mersin were very unique for me. You win some [international] medals over the years, even at the European Championships, but when you return home nearly no one has even heard of it. So, competing in front of our crowd for the first time in the Mediterranean Games was very special to me, with a different enthusiasm. At that point I started realizing how football players feel. [laughs] You form an emotional bond with the spectators. To be able to make them cheer, cry, feel pride is a feeling I can't forget. Being in front of a big crowd and making them feel these beautiful emotions is something else entirely, I wished all competitions would be held like this in Turkey.

It's time for me to finalize a 32 year sports career. 32 years ago, it all started with a simple mat in Ağrı with my dad's interest in sports. It's an interesting story, a kid from Ağrı starting gymnastics when there aren't proper gyms in the country. [Ağrı is a province on the eastern border of Turkey, far from metropolitan resources]

It shows what can produced out of this country if given the chance, and that there are such chances. I experienced the circumstances of that time which were nothing comparable to today. I hope this can be an example for our youth. Another interesting point is that I started at 10 years old, but when you love and believe in something, there isn't anything you can't overcome.

If the physical conditions of the human body allowed it, I think I'd do gymnastics until the end of my life. An author can write until the end of their life, a vocalist can sing until the end of their life but we don't have that opportunity."

[gymfanconfessions]

“It's the European team final, Abdelrahman just got injured and Turkey needed a third man on vault and floor, and Umit Samiloglu was like "I can do a single twisting Tsukahara" and Ibrahim Colak was like "I can do three elements above B on floor and only one of them is acro" and the coach was like "f*ck it let's do that" and thanks to that they not only escaped last place, they clinched the silver. Imagine knowing that your three point something d-score is what saved your team's ass. Amazing.”

[tutyayilmazz]

EUROS TEAM SILVER

I've caught up with the half of the TF i missed and i'm proud of our team for doing all they could given the circumstances! They should all be very proud of years of work carrying Turkish gymnastics to this moment ❤❤❤

It's so sad to see Abdelrahman Elgamal crying and trying to leave the arena and saying "what can i even say?" during the interviews. In a previous interview i saw his excitement to finally make his proper debut here after finally being released by Egypt to compete for Turkey this year. To get injured before competition must've been devastating and of course it's not ideal to have ibrahim improvise a floor and ümit vault but I was seriously wincing at Abdelrahman's dismounting from every other event, I just hope he hasn't worsened his situation. With them all falling off high bar and other mistakes they ended up scoring 7 whole points less that in QF but they're only now getting the hang of team finals and I'm glad these 5 get to call themselves Turkey's first ever European team medallists 😌🥰🇹🇷

As İbrahim said, "Yes, we have missed a gold medal but we have written history for Turkey in artistic gymnastics. The fact that we are upset with silver shows what a great level we have come to."

[tutyayilmazz]

Ümit Şamiloğlu wrote on his instastory that he broke several bones in his foot while training and will be having surgery

[tutyayilmazz]

Ahead of tomorrow’s team final, here’s a video of the Turkish team introducing each other with some fun facts! (And they also pronounce each other’s names if you wanna hear, idk what happened to my original post about names oops)

Ümit Şamiloğlu says that as the oldest and the team captain it’s down to him start. He names Ferhat Arıcan as the master of parallel bars and the inventor of countless skills. He says Ferhat’s “secret” nickname is Jamaica

Ferhat introduces Ahmet Önder as someone who likes coffee as strong as Ahmet looks tough on the outside (it sounds awkward in English but he uses the same adjective for both 😅) Very determined and ambitious, a staple of the team, he will conquer Europe and then Tokyo!

Ahmet tells us about Abdelrahman Elgamal, or Abdo as they call him, came to Turkey 2 years ago to become a more successful gymnast and added strength to the team. There’s plenty of medals to be won with his goals

By the way, I finally found information about the mysterious Elgamal who this video says is of Egyptian origin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbS-sYTUv4  Here, he says he’s very happy and very excited to compete as a part of the Turkish national team. He has many goals and they’re working towards the Olympics. Coach Yılmaz Göktekin says that Abdelrahman’s story started 2,5 years ago when he came to Turkey by his own will as he didn’t find the conditions weren’t sufficient and a sports mentality missing. Now he has gotten Turkish citizenship and is a licensed athlete of Turkey, and is venturing to change his name to a Turkish name. Yılmaz Göktekin adds that they are expecting an Olympic spot from next Euros. Now back to the introductory video...

Abdelrahman introduces the “king of the rings”, very successful and also modest, romantic and really fun to be around and ends with “If he isn’t on the team, then neither am I, he’s the man, he’s İbrahim Çolak!”

İbrahim begins by mouthing a few words but not speaking and then says that that’s how quiet Ümit Şamiloğlu speaks 😂 the oldest of the team and [one of the] oldest athletes in the world, twice as old as the youngest of the team. But with his poise and perfomance he never shows his age. With his guidance and experience as an older brother figure, İbrahim believes they can write history

In the end they invite us to watch them on TRT Spor 2

[tutyayilmazz]

Turkish MAG team is at a camp in switzerland and ümit şamiloğlu just posted this 😂 the caption says "this cold isn't for people from izmir"

[tutyayilmazz]

Ümit Şamiloğlu had said that he was happy to make the HB final when he's almost 40 years old and was very jetlagged 😅 now after the final he's tweeted that he came 4th due to the angle he finished a skill and the pause he had and that he'll retire in 3 months 😭💔 i'll miss him, he was like the dad of the team 💛

[tutyayilmazz]

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A post shared by Emin Garibov (@egaribov)

IM LIVING

[tutyayilmazz]

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A post shared by Umit Samiloglu (@umitsamiloglu)

Ümit Şamiloğlu with a contender for best high bar save 3 months after his shoulder surgery 😦

[tutyayilmazz]

As a break from our scheduled discourse here is our proud Turkish team 😄🇹🇷🇹🇷

"This team wrote history"

[tutyayilmazz]

Ümit Şamiloğlu, the first Turkish gymnast to medal at Euros, has officially retired at age 41

[gymfanconfessions]

“ In the 2020 European men's team final, after Abdelrahman got injured and they needed an extra man in two things,Umit Samiloglu was like "I can do a single twisting vault" and Ibrahim Colak was like "I can do four C acrobatic things on floor" and the coach was like "What the f*ck let's do that" and somehow that was enough to keep the team silver. Just imagine knowing that your twelve point something routine completely outside your comfort zone was what saved your team's ass. A-MA-ZING. “

[tutyayilmazz]

European medalists of Turkey! Ümit Şamiloğlu said it’s been 10 years since his bronze medal in 2008 and wished the same for himself and his teammates, and it did happen 🤗🤗 The caption of the first photo says “So much respect for İbrahim who surpassed my own medal 👏👏👏”