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Girişmen, Gizem

Girişmen, Gizem (b. November 25, 1981, Ankara), Paralympic and World Archery Champion. In 2017, together with national wrestling champion Taha Akgül, she received the Mustafa V. Koç Sports Award
 
Girişmen was paralyzed following a traffic accident at the age of 11. She completed her secondary education at Tevfik Fikret Private High School, Ankara, before graduating from Bilkent University Faculty of Business Administration. In 2017, she received an MA in social policy from Middle East Technical University. 
 
Girişmen began practicing archery in 2004, joining the National Archery Team for the Physically Disabled in the following year. In 2006, she came third in the 4th European Para-Archery Championships held in the Czech Republic. She received the gold medal in the individual recurve category at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and was the first female Turkish athlete to achieve such success in the Paralympics. In 2009, she came first in the individual recurve category at the 7th Para-Archery World Championships held in the Czech Republic and was a member of the Turkish Women’s Recurve Team, which came third.
 
In August 2009, Girişmen was voted “Athlete of the Month” by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and in 2010, she was the first Turkish athlete nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards. From 2007 to 2010, she was first in her category in the IPC World Archery Rankings. In 2017, Girişmen and the Olympian and world champion wrestler, Taha Akgül, received the Mustafa V. Koç Sports Award for “their embodiment of all the Olympic values and worldwide sporting success, achieved through the determination, discipline and commitment shown in their work.”
 
Girişmen currently works at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and is a member of the Paralympic Games Preparation and Performance Monitoring Board. She is a member of the Archery Technical Board of the Physically Disabled Sports Federation of Turkey. From 2012 to 2017, she was also a member of the executive board of the European Paralympic Committee (EPC).

Abadan Unat, Nermin

Political scientist who received the Vehbi Koç Award for education in 2012.

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