Despite being born with 80% visual impairment, Turkish national athlete Oğuz Akbulut is gearing up in Ankara for the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships, scheduled to take place in Kobe, Japan, on May 17-25.
Invited to join the national team for the Kobe showdown, Akbulut expressed his ambition to clinch the gold medal and highlighted his rigorous training regimen leading up to the event.
Training at the Türkiye Olympic Preparation Center (TOHM) under the Youth and Sports Ministry in Ankara, Akbulut credited his start in sports to his elementary school physical education teacher.
"My teacher told me, 'Despite your disability, you are very talented, you need to do sports,'" he recalled.
After trying various sports specific to visually impaired individuals, such as goalball and futsal, Akbulut's success at the 2010 Türkiye Athletics Championships paved his way to the national team.
Two years later, he secured the European title in the 400 meters, third place in Europe in the 800 meters, and fourth place in the world and Europe in the 1,500 meters.
By 2017, he had achieved third place in the world at the Islamic Games in Baku and another third-place finish at the World Championships in London.
In 2018, he broke the European championship record and claimed first place in the 400 meters at the Athletics European Championships in Berlin.
This success was followed by a third-place finish in Dubai at the Athletics Championships in 2019.
Akbulut credits his success to inner motivation, emphasizing that being visually impaired has not hindered his achievements.
His goal of participating in the Olympics has driven him to excel in athletics, with a focus on consistency and continuous improvement.
His wife, a former national athlete, provides moral support, and he aims to elevate his achievements further with the help of his coaches.
His coach, Ertürk Yalmen, who has been training Paralympic athletes since 2013, expressed confidence in Akbulut's abilities, highlighting their long-term partnership and past successes.
Their goal is to win a medal, with continuous training supported by the Visually Impaired Sports Federation.
Yalmen believes they are well-prepared and aims for Akbulut to reach the final race, where they will strive for a medal, ideally aiming for gold.
