Sunday, March 28, 2010

Athens Olympic Week and some great news!!! //// Atina Olimpik Siniflar haftasi ve cok guzel haberler


(Turkish version is below)

I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry

I should’ve wrote daayyss ago… with all the racing and traveling and the exciting stuff going on (and school also, yuck! lol) I finally put everything aside and decided to write you all about it…

The live interview (my first live appearance on TV and I was nervous) and the news (and the honor) of becoming the first athlete partnering up with the leading sports channel in Turkiye, NTVSPOR, was a great motivation before the race in Athens.

Before you get into the details of the race, I would like to say that I am also very happy that I became the second athlete in Turkiye that is sponsored by GNC as the supplement and Nutrition supplier of my Olympic campaign. This is a great honor as well, because I also am a big believer of “Live Well” and this is a great opportunity for me to become a part of it.

And Athens…

The way to Athens was quite enjoyable as me and two of my teammates from the National Team Hakan and Efe Karakaplan brothers who are racing as a team in the 470 class were accompanying me on the nice ferry rides. We met up in Cesme and took the smallest “ferry” I’ve ever seen to Chios (the Greek island right across Cesme) to hop on the ferry “Mtylene” to Athens.  I recommend everyone to take ferries in the Aegean, planes are fast but ferries are so much more funJ
  But, enough talk on the trip and more about sailing… Although we arrived early in the morning, we didn’t have much time till the race so Malte and I got to work…  With solid training sessions both by myself and with my teammate Alican Kaynar (FB) for three days both on and off water, we felt great going into the Athens Olympic week. Although the preparations were, of course, not enough as we weren’t able to study the masts as much as we want and the sails are brand new, but we at least felt confident on my ability and the fact that whatever we had with the set up we have has to make it.

The weather in Athens was a very weird one as it kept changing for 5 days from 10 degrees raining with 15 knots of wind to sunny 20 degrees with no wind!! (Yes, ZERO wind!!), we had to be prepared for everything.
The first day of racing went really well in very light conditions and finishing the 3 races 3rd, 3rd and 8th and 3rd place overall. It was a great way to start the regatta of course, but things don’t always go as expected. Placing 9th, 7th and 11th, I unfortunately dropped to 8th place overall. That Friday’s lesson was (wasn’t the 13th but might as well be) that to keep what you have and don’t change what works. Before the 3rd race the wind dropped last race that day and before the last race, I decided to try my light air sail to see if I can sail better. OH, was I wrong…
1 minute before the start, the wind picked up to about 10-12 knots and my dear powerful deep light air sail became an instant hell on water…

All jokes aside, with a bad start (Malte was jumping up and down on the boat and THAT wasn’t from happiness) I struggled but clawed my way up to fifth place most of the race not really caring about making the wrong choice and pumping like a maniac to finish 4th going on to the last few hundred meters to the finish line… Bad choice again, I lost control in a gust and capsized only to finish 11th… Moral story of the day was 1) if it works, don’t try to fix it and 2) Be happy with what you have, you might actually lose it trying to gain more.

Third day was unfortunate as there wasn’t much wind and I was prepared to make up for my mistakes and get back into the top 5, but we were only able to have one race which I finished 6th. Going 8th in to medal race where everything can change very easily as the points are doubled in the medal race, I was unable to perform the tactics that I had planned and finished 7th again, which helped me to go up one spot and finish 7th overall. In general, it was a good race with a lot of lessons learned, which is the point anyways.

Things like this happen during racing… Mistakes during a race, you push yourself to hard only to lose control and all your hard work goes down the drain in a split second, but that’s how it is. You have to push your limits every time, to actually know where they are and then push them some more to do more.  Although it makes me frustrated, angry, sad, etc during that particular time of failure, this is why we are training. To be honest these are all lessons (even the big races such as European Championships in May) that help me to perform better and learn from my mistakes and not do them again when necessary. For all I care I can fail every single training and every single race for the next two and a half years only to succeed once, just once. Because there is only one and only goal now and that is to make it to the 2012 London Olympics. Everything else is almost immoral.

Now I’m in training/ studying in New York getting ready for a wonderful season (up till now it didn’t feel like a real sailing season) starting with the European Championships in Split Croatia on May 8th to 16th and following the World Cup circuit around Netherlands, Germany and UK as well as getting ready for the World Championships in San Francisco in late August.

Hope you have a wonderful day, sorry for the late and long blog…

See you soon





Ozur dilerim Ozur dilerim Ozur dilerim

Gunler oncesinden yazmam gerekiyordu biliyorum ancak seyahat, yaris, antreman derken (ve okul tabikide, iyyy J ) yazamadim. Su an erseyi bi koseye koydum ve yazana kadar bilgisayar basindan kalkamaya karar verdim

Daha oncede yazdigim gibi yaris oncesi NTVSPOR ile yaptigim canli soylesi (ilk canli yayindi , biraz heyecan yaptim) ve NTVSPOR tarafindan desteklenen ilk sporcu olma onuruyla Atina’daki yarisa moralim cok yuksek olarak gittim.

Tabi yaris detaylarina inmeden belirtmek isterimki, Atina donusu bir guzel haberim daha bulunmakta. Olimpiyat kampanyasi hazirliklari cercevesi icerisinde GNC firmasi ile anlasarak sponsorluklarima bir yenisini daha eklemis bulunmaktayim. Boylesine buyuk bir markanin beslenme sponsorum olmasi ve “Live Well” kampanyasina gonulden inanan bir sporcu olarak  boyle bir felsefenin bir parcasi olabilmek benim icin cok gurur verici bir olay.

Ve Atina…

Atina’ya cok eglenceli bir yolculuk gecirdik. Cesme’den Sakiz’a “feribotla” ?? gecerek (biraz ufakti feribot), ardinda Mytlene feribotuyla Sakiz’dan Atina’ya gecmek kesinlikle herkese tavsiye edebilcegim bir yolculuk, ucaga gore yavas olsada kesinlikle eglenceli. Ayrica 470 sinifinda yarisan Milli yelkenciler Efe ve Hakan Karakaplan kardeslerin de bana bu yolculukta eslik etmeleri yolculugu ayri bir keyifli kildi.

Seyahatin detaylarindan ne kadar  daha bahsedebilsem de, yelkene donelim. Atina’ya sabahin korunde varmis olsakta persembe gunu baslayacak yarisa  hazirlanmak icin cok vaktimiz olmadigindan dolayi hemen Malte’yle ise koyulduk(Malte bir gun onceden Atina’ya ucakla geldi).Hem karada hem suda takim arkadasim Alican Kaynar  (FB) ile yogun bir 3 gunluk antreman periyodu gecirerek yarislara elimizden geldigince hazirlandik. Bu hazirliklar tabii aslinda cok daha uzun sure isteyen calismalar ancak elimizdeki olanaklarla en suratli konfigurasyonu bulup, bunu en iyi sekilde kullanmamiz gerekiyor.

15 knot esen ruzgarla yagmurlu 10 derece hava  ile sifir (ama sifir!!!) ruzgarli gunesli 20 derece arasinda degisen Atina’da havanin cok degisken olmasi bizi her kosula hazirlanmamizi gerektirdi.

Ilk gun cok hafif havada gecen yarislarda yapilan 3 yarisi 3., 3. Ve 8. bitirerek ilk gunu genelde 3. olarak bitirdim. Seriye muhtesem bir baslangicti aslinda ancak devami bekledigim kadar iyi gecemedi.Ikinci gunku yarislari 9.,7. ve 11.  Bitirerek genelde 8.lige dustum. Ilk 2 yaris bekledigimden kotu yarissam da hatalarimi duzeltip 3. Yarista cok iyi yarismayi istiyordum. Bazen kazanma hirsi mantikli dusuncenin onune gecebiliyor ne yazik ki.. Havanin biraz daha azalmasiyla yelken degistirme ve hafif hava yelkenine gecme karari aldim. Ne kadar orta hava yelkenim cok suratli olmasada surati iyiydi, ancak…. Yelken degistirmemle beraber  yarisa 1 dakika kala ruzgarin artmasi ve 10-12 knot arasi esmesi benim diger yelkenime gore cok daha torlu ve kuvvetli hafif hava yelkenim ve benim icin cok iyi bir haber degildi. Sonuc olarak yelken alani ayni olsada daha kuvvetli yelken her zaman daha fazla trapez yapmak demek, bu da uygun olmayan bir yelkenle su uzerinde cehennem demek. Bu kosullarda kotu bir start (Malte botta zipliyodu start sirasinda ve sevincten degil)  ise pastanin uzerinde susleme oldu. Butun hersey bir yana, bu tur durumlarda insan icgudusel olarak sadece 2 secenek sunuyor kendine. Ya kotu sansina (aslinda kotu secimine) lanet oku ve sikayet et veya her aciya dayan, kafani kullan, calis ve o durumdan hemen kurtul. Tahminen 13. basladigim  yarista dogru secimi yaparak 2.  Yolu sectim ve yaris boyunca butun yorgunluklari ve sanssizliklari bir kenara birakarak 5.lige kadar ciktim. Yarisin bitimine bir kac yuz metre varken kazanma hirsinin tatminsiz sinirlari yanlis yelkenle limitlerimi zorlamama sebep oldu. Ancak bu iyi sonuclanmadi ne yazikki, finis hattina bir kac yuz metre kala kontrolu kaybetmem ve batmam, hedefledigim 4.luk yerine bana ancak 11.ligi getirebildi. O cuma gunku yarislardan alinan dersler: 1) “calisan birseyi onarmaya calismayin, bozarsiniz” ve 2) “elinizdekiyle yetinmek bazen en iyisidir, cunku onuda kaybedebilirsiniz. “

3. gun ne kadar motivasyonumu yenileyip tekrardan ilk 5’e girmek icin kendimi hazirlamis olsamda, yetersiz ruzgar nedeniyle ancak 1 yaris yapabildik ve o yarisi da 6. Bitirerek geneldeki 8.ligimi korudum, tabi madalya yarisina daha avantajli giriyordum gene. 4.luk  ihtimalimin hala devam ettigi son gunun madalya yarisinda her sonuc cok onemliydi. Madalya yarisinin ozelligi diger yarislara gore cok daha kisa ve hizli olmasi ayrica da puanlarin 2 kat olup sonuclari cok ciddi degistirmesidir. Ancak starttan sonra istedigim taktikleri uygulayamam yarisi 7. olarak bitirmeme ve de genelde 7.lige yukselmemi sagladi. Genel olarak iyi bir seri olduguna inaniyorum, cunku sonuc olarak cok sey ogrendim ve de bu da esas amacimizdi.

Bu ve benzeri olaylar yelkeni diger sporlardan farkli ve bana gore daha eglenceli kilan kismidir. 100 metre kosusu heryerde yuz metredir, ve de sizing antremaniniz disinda baska hicbir degisken element yoktur. Ama yelkende  tekne uzerinde degistirebilceginiz olasiliklar disinda elementlerde degisebilir.. Birinci giderken sonunucu, sonuncu giderken birinci olabilirsiniz. Bir saniyelik hatalariniz butun emeklerinizin cope gitmesini saglayabilir, ancak oyunun kurali budur. Her seferinde sinirlarinizi zorlamaniz gerekir ki sinirlarinizi ogrenin ve ustune giderek her seferinde biraz daha bu limitleri yukseltin. Tabi bu hatalar yapildigi sirada cileden cikartir derece de beni uzse de, sinirlendirse de , yorsa da  antreman yapmamizin sebebi budur. Durust olamk gerekirse bu antremanlarin ve yarislarin hepsi daha basarili olmak icin yapilan birer antremandir (mayis’taki Avrupa sampiyonasi dahil olmak uzere) ve hatalarimdan ders almayi ogretir  herseferinde ki tekrarlamiyim. Cunku aslinda benim icin tek ama tek onemli sey onumdeki  2.5 sene boyunca her gun, her saniye, her antreman ve her yaris hata yapip basarisiz olabilirim ancak bu 2.5 sene icerisinde sadece 1 kez basarili olmam yeterlidir. Cunku benim tek odagim, tek hedefim ve hayattaki tek amacim su an 2012 Londra Olimpiyatlarina katilmak! Geri kalan hersey neredeyse onemsiz…

Su an New York’ta bir yandan derslerime yetismeye calsiyorum, bir yandan da Mayis’ta baslayacak olan yogun kosusturma icin hazirlaniyorum(gercek sezon iste o zmana basliyor). 8 ila 16 Mayis arasinda Split Hirvatistan’da yapilacak Avrupa sampiyonasiyla basladik sonra Hollanda Almanya ve Ingiltere’de  yapialcak World Cup serisini takip edecegim ve ardindan sezonun en onemli yarisi olan Agustos sonundaki San Francisco’daki  Dunya sampiyonasi ile sezonu kapatacagim.

Hepinize guzel gunler diliyorum ve bu uzun ve gec yazilmis yazi icin ozur diliyorum
Yakinda tekrardan gorusmek dilegiyle

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