Nurcan Taylan

Nurcan Taylan

Personal information
Nationality	Turkish
Born	October 29, 1983 (1983-10-29) (age 28) Ankara, Turkey
Height	1.52 m (5 ft 0 in)
Weight	48 kg (110 lb)
Sport
Country	Turkey
Sport	Weightlifting
Event(s)	– 48 kg
Club	Yenimahalle Sports Club, Ankara
Medal record Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens – 48 kg World Championships Gold 2010 Antalya – 48 kg Bronze 2009 Goyang – 48 kg Silver 2003 Vancouver – 48 kg Bronze 2002 Warsaw – 48 kg European Championships Gold 2011 Kazan – 48 kg Gold 2010 Minsk – 48 kg Gold 2009 Bucharest – 48 kg Gold 2008 Lignano Sabbiadoro – 48 kg Silver 2007 Strasbourg – 48 kg Gold 2004 Kiev – 53 kg Gold 2003 Loutraki – 53 kg Mediterranean Games Gold 2009 Pescara – 53 kg Gold 2005 Almería – 53 kg European Junior Championships Gold 2003 Loutraki – 53 kg Gold 2002 Warsaw – 48 kg

Nurcan Taylan (born October 29, 1983 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish Olympic, world and European champion in weightlifting. She holds six European and one world record (and tied two more world records).

She was born in Mamak, Ankara as the third child of a poor family originating from the town of Hafik in Sivas, Central Anatolia. Taylan was discovered at age of eleven by the Turkish national athlete and her later coach Mehmet Üstündağ as he was her teacher in physical education at the Mamak Secondary School in Ankara.

Only 1.52 m (5 ft) tall, she lifted two World and five Olympic records in the women’s 48 kg category at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Nurcan Taylan is Turkey's first ever female Olympic gold medalist.^[1]

She is student of physical education and sports and member of the Yenimahalle Club in Ankara.

Medals

Olympic Games

Rank	Discipline	Snatch	Clean&Jerk	Total	Place	Date
1 Gold	48 kg	97.5 CWR		210.0 WR	Athens, GRE	Aug 14, 2004
2 Silver	48 kg		112.5

World Championships

Rank	Discipline	Snatch	Clean&Jerk	Total	Place	Date
1 Gold	48 kg	93.0	121.0 WR	214.0	Antalya, TUR	Sep 18, 2010
2 Silver	48 kg	90.0	115.0		Goyang, KOR	Nov 21, 2009
3 Bronze	48 kg			205.0
2 Silver	48 kg	87.5	105.0	192.5	Warsaw, POL	Nov 19, 2002
3 Bronze	48 kg	85.0		187.5	Vancouver, B.C., CAN	Nov 18, 2003
5	48 kg		102.5

European Championships

Rank	Discipline	Snatch	Clean&Jerk	Total	Place	Date
1 Gold	48 kg	90.0	105.0	195.0	Kazan, RUS	Apr 11, 2011
1 Gold	48 kg	90.0	118.0	208.0	Minsk, BLR	Apr 5, 2010
1 Gold	48 kg	88.0	108.0	196.0	Bucharest, ROM	Apr 6, 2009
1 Gold	48 kg	87.0	109.0	196.0	Lignano Sabbiadoro, ITA	Apr 2, 2008
1 Gold	53 kg	95.5 ER	115.5 ER	210.0	Kiev, UKR	Apr 20, 2004
1 Gold	J 53 kg	95.0 ER	115.0 ER	210.0 ER	Loutraki, GRE	Apr 15, 2003
1 Gold	J 48 kg	87.5 ER	105.0 ER	192.5 ER	Warsaw, POL	Nov 19, 2002

Mediterranean Games

Rank	Discipline	Snatch	Clean&Jerk	Total	Place	Date
1 Gold	53 kg	87.0 MR	108.0 MR		Almería, ESP	Jun 26, 2005

• J: Junior
• CWR: Current world record
• WR: World record
• ER: European record
• MR: Mediterranean record

World rank

2004 World ranking list for the category "Women 48 kg" is as following:

Rank	Athlete	Snatch	Clean&Jerk	Total	Place	Date
1	Nurcan Taylan, TUR	97.5	112.5	210.0	Athens, GRE	Aug 14, 2004
2	Zhuo Li, CHN	90.0	115.0	205.0	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Apr 7, 2004
3	Wei Gao, CHN	90.0	110.0	200.0	Minsk, BLR	May 24, 2004
3=	Aree Wiratthaworn, THA	85.0	115.0	200.0	Athens, GRE	Aug 14 2004

Her coach’s scandal

A Turkish court in September 2004 ordered the arrest of the coach of the Turkish women’s weightlifting team Üstündağ after three women athletes filed complaints of sexual harassment against him. Ustundag denied in court allegations of repeated physical sexual molestation going back several years, fielded by Sibel Şimşek, Aylin Daşdelen and Şule Şahbaz, all members of the Turkish women's team at the Athens Olympics.

But the court ordered him to be placed under detention in view of the "alleged crime's nature, the evidence collected and feelings of anger it has inspired in the public". The allegations first hit the media in early September when the three athletes gave extensive interviews to newspapers and television channels. Daşdelen told a television news program that Üstündağ also made it a habit of "beating" his charges, going so far as to blame the trainer for the 1999 suicide of teammate Esma Can. The only support for Üstündağ came from Taylan, who in turn accused her three teammates of being "lesbians". Turkish sports officials immediately launched an official investigation. Üstündağ came under investigation on similar charges four years ago, but the evidence was inconclusive.

The Turkish Weightlifting Federation did not allow Taylan to participate at the 2005 European Weightlifting Championship held in Sofia, Bulgaria between April 17 and April 25.

References

1. ^ BIA Net August 16, 2004 (Turkish)

External links

• International Weightlifting Federation

Persondata
Name	Taylan, Nurcan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 29, 1983
Place of birth	Ankara, Turkey
Date of death
Place of death