European committee bestows top honors to Turkish paralympic team, athlete
ANKARA

Turkish paralympic athletes have once again excelled on the global stage, with the European Paralympic Committee (EPC) declaring the country’s women's goalball national team as the Team of the Year and awarding para swimmer Umut Ünlü the European Male Athlete of the Year for 2024.
"We keep on marking remarkable achievements. We were named ‘the best of the year' in two categories for the first time in our history,” the Turkish National Paralympic Committee’s statement read.
As the first swimmer from Türkiye to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games, Ünlü accomplished a groundbreaking achievement at the Paris Paralympic Games last year. The 24-year-old national athlete also became the first and only Turkish athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games to win two gold medals in the same event.
After defeating Israel 8-3 in the final game in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the Turkish women's nation goalball team also took home the gold medal at the prestigious event. This historic achievement marked the third consecutive gold medal for the team at the games, as the national athletes had previously won gold in Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
In 2024, Türkiye's national athletes left an indelible mark with outstanding performances, amassing a remarkable 561 medals to date. At the Paris Paralympic Games, the country etched its name into the annals of history by securing 23rd place — its highest-ever ranking.
A total of 94 Turkish para-athletes across 15 disciplines represented the nation at the games, returning home with 28 medals, six of which were gold.
National athletes, breaking records and achieving unprecedented milestones, succeeded in earning medals across all categories of disability, encompassing special athletes, physically impaired athletes and visually impaired athletes.