For Turkey, the London Olympics fervor began yesterday, especially for our female athletes which went out to face their first challenges in the competition. Female weightlifter Nurdan Karagöz, who according to USA Today is one of seven Turkish athletes set to bring home a medal, took the podium at 17:30 on Saturday in the 48 kilogram category. Turkey's medal hopeful was disappointed when her 187 kilogram lifts put her in fifth place.
Turkey's Women's National Basketball and Volleyball teams also competed yesterday in what was be their first Olympic games ever. Turkey's Women's National Basketball team was paired against Angola for their first group match, which kicked off at 16:30 with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the audience. Turkey's Women's National Basketball Team came out the victors by 72-50, starting off thir run in Group A with a very significant win. Women's Basketball Team Coach Ceyhun Yıldızoğlu stated, "We are the favorites on paper. We want to play the first game right and win." Yıldızoğlu also stated that the fact that Prime Minister Erdoğan was watching the game is a whole other form of motivation.
At midnight tonight our women volleyball team plays Brazil. Croatian trainer Motta says, "The Turkish public will be watching a team they can be proud of in the Olympics." The 'Sultans of the Net' lost the highly competitive game against Brazil at the final moment.
