Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim

Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim
Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı
at the

Course of the Bosphorus Intercontinental Swim in the Istanbul Strait, Turkey.
Location Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey

The Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim (Turkish: Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı) is an open water swimming event between the continents Europe and Asia held annually at Bostphorus, Istanbul, Turkey. Established in 1989, the event is organized by the Turkish Olympic Committee and sponsored by Samsung.[1]

History

The swimming event was held for the first time on July 23, 1989, at which 64 male and 4 female competitors took part. The next year, the course's start was relocated from Çubuklu more far to Kanlıca, extending its distance to 6.5 km (4.0 mi). In 1992, the event became international with the participation of 22 swimmers from Czechoslovakia and two from the United States. Course record was set in 2006 by Turkish swimmers Alişan Alaşlı in the men's category with 39:07.11 and Beren Kayrak in the women's category with 40:50.35. Since 2010, every swimmer completing the course receives a certificate titled "Intercontinental Swimmer".[2]

Notable swimmers

Many notable swimmers from all over the world took place at the event during its history. In 2012, American swimmer Mark Spitz, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in seven events, was a guest, and performed shows.[3] Ian Thorpe, Olympic gold medalist from Australia, was also a guest among the competitors of 2013.[4] Turkish woman Fatma Nazan Göğen took part in all races from its beginning in 1989. Turkish Levent Aksüt, at the age of 85, was the oldest swimmer so far.[5] Local sportsman Hasan Eskioğlu holds the record of most winning swimmer with ten times, of which seven in a row.[2]

Participation

More than 2,000 swimmers, including over 500 females with half of them being foreigners, from over 50 countries participate at the event.[1][2] Currently, the number of foreign swimmers is limited to 1,000, and only up to 300 are permitted to participate from each country. There are 12 age categories for each gender, from the age of 14 to 70 and over.[6]

Course

The route starts at the Pier of Kanlıca, north of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, on the Asian part of Istanbul, runs southwards, and finishes at Cemil Topuzlu Park in Kuruçeşme, north of the Bosphorus Bridge, on the European part of the city.[1][7][8]

Gallery

References

  1. 1 2 3 "27. Samsung Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı". Fanatik (in Turkish). 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "History of the Bosphorus Cross-continental Races". Turkish Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  3. ↑ Dalgalıdere, Serhat (2012-07-14). "Mark Spitz'den İstanbul Boğazı'nda yüzme şovu". Cihan News Agency (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  4. ↑ "Rekortmen şampiyon Boğaz'da". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  5. ↑ Ocak, Serkan (2014-07-24). "Boğazın suları engel tanımaz". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  6. ↑ "Application Rules". Turkish Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  7. ↑ "Route". Turkish Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  8. ↑ "Önemli Duyuru" (in Turkish). Samsung Boğaziçi Kıtalararası Yüzme Yarışı. Retrieved 2016-07-23.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2016 Bosphorus Intercontinental Sim.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.