It has been well-documented that when Yusuf Goktug Ergin arrived to the Turkish scene in 2016 as head coach and director, he rebuilt the national squad almost entirely from youth, foreseeing international experience for some archers even not in their teens at the time to be at world class level in their early twenties rather than mid-late.
Gazoz was obviously a special talent from early on and was carefully curated to supersede expectations, but now the 10 years-in-advance planning by Goktug is seeing fruition across the whole board, with their compound men team also making it to their respective gold medal match.
The long game is paying off and their camaraderie, which has developed whilst they have all grown together as human beings as well as archers under Türkiye’s renowned physically gruelling camps, is clear to see when they celebrate each and every arrow together.
“It’s so hard because we train so much, we train so hard, and I am the best archer in the world on the practice field,” added 26 year old Gazoz, who averaged an arrow of 9.5 against China. “If you can beat me, you can beat everybody in the field and now I see the Turkish team, women and men, we are a top three team in the world, and I’m so happy.”
Gazoz, Tumer and Akkoyun will be eager to make the blood, sweat and tears worth it when they shoot against USA’s Brady Ellison, Christian Stoddard and Jack Williams this weekend.
If the comparison of the two nations’ semifinals is anything to go by, then the Turkish trio will feel they have the upper hand, with a self-admitted “tired” Williams who struggled as the arrows piled up, the American saying that his teammates “carried” him in their 5-3 victory over Paris 2024 runners-up France.
“My go-to problem is I get up in my upper trap, so that shifts the whole scapula up, which then kind of disconnects the deltoid, that connection into the lower scapula,” explained the 2021 World Cup Final champion. “That position just shoots really bad so it’s a really snowball thing, where as soon as I get out of that upper trap, shoulder position, there’s no injury, no pain, which I’m thankful for.”
Competition is currently ongoing in Puebla with compound and recurve mixed team eliminations.
