Fatih came all the way from Turkey to support his son, his reward is gold

EYOF 2022 in Banská Bystrica writes many extraordinary stories, which mostly take place behind the scenes. The story of a father – a fan and a son – an athlete from Turkey is one of them.  

Fatih Temiz came to EYOF from Ankara, the capital of Turkey. His son Tolga, a promising Turkish swimmer, reached the final of boys’ 400m freestyle competition on the opening day of the European Olympic Festival. In it, with a time of 3:52.99 min, he fished the gold medal out of the water of the pool in Štiavničky. In the final, the Turk overtook his Italian rival Bertoni by only three hundredths of a second.

“I came to the EYOF from my native Turkey, I am in Slovakia during the whole week of the Olympic Youth Festival. I really like your country, people and your food. My son Tolga is a Turkish youth champion in various swimming disciplines. Our swimming federation selected him for the EYOF and since I go to every race with him, I also came to see him in Banská Bystrica,” said Fatih Temiz, a proud supporter of his son.

Before the race, Fatih expected his son’s medal success, but he also knew about strong opponents. “My son told me before the race that he will win the gold because he trains very hard and he finally did,“ the happy father of the first boy’s gold medalist at EYOF 2022 described his impressions. 

“At the beginning of the year, I learned that spectators can also come to EYOF, and that’s why I’m here today. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the swimming stadium, I learned that I could only watch the race on the big screen in front of the stadium. I wanted to see my son’s golden final race with my own eyes, that’s why I measured such a distance and I’m sorry that it didn’t work out,“ Fatih, who travelled a route almost two thousand kilometers long to EYOF 2022, described his experiences. 

Such stories are written by EYOF 2022 in Banská Bystrica too, which is also supported by LESY SR.