Turkish middle-distance runner
Dilek Koçak (born 15 August 2005) is a Turkish middle-distance running athlete, who competes over distances 800 m and 1500 m. She is the European U20 champion in 1500 m.
Sport career
Koçak was discovered as a track athlete by the physical education teacher and athletics coach Cahit Demir, while she was grazing animals at her village Üzengili intown, karayazı, Erzurum, eastern Turkey, a location situated at 1,450 m (4,760 ft) above mean sea level.[1] Demir convinced her father to take her for training at Karayazı town, where he was working.[1] At the age of sixteen, she transferred to Fenerbahçe Athletics in Istanbul.[2][1]
On 15 May 2022 in Mersin, she broke the 15-year-old Turkish women's U18 record in the 800 m event with a time of 2:06.95. Two weeks later, on 29 May in Bursa, she renewed her own record with 2:04.35.[1]
Koçak participated at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia. She competed in the semifinal of the 80 m event, and in the final of the 1500 m event. She set a new Turkish U18 record in the 1500 m with her time of 4:14.90, which is more than five seconds better than the previous record.[3]
At the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships in Jerusalem, Israel, she won the bronze medal in the 800 m event, and became European U20 champion in the 1500 m event.[2][4]
Personal life
Dilek Koçak was born in Üzengili village of Karayazı district in Erzurum on 15 August 2005.[2][5] After she started in athletics, she was schooled in the Erzurum Sport High School, recommended by her coach Demir.[1]
References
