THE EXHAUSTION OF A CHAMPION: FROM WHERE DOES SÜREYYA RUN?

Abstract

To be a champion is the purpose of every athlete. Becoming national champion, followed by obtaining the title of European Champion and then victory in the Olympiad make up a sequence which all athletes try to complete. An athlete should win many competitions in order to be renowned. Süreyye Ayhan, recently the most frequently spelled name in Turkish athleticism, also paved the same way in her first years. She became successful in running mid-range distances. Starting a race by an early attack, she seemed insurmountable. As she scored more and more successes, her ambition for still more and her fear of loss brought her to the point of unsportsmanlike behavior. It is not infrequent that a sportswoman/sportsman succumbs to fame, to individual and public benefits and resorts to unethical ways. To go on scientifically and also ethically seem to become unbearable for such individuals. While the world sport system intensively struggles against taking doping material, disobeying rules become a repugnancy and finally, guilt. Subjects such as legality, responsibility, self-control, increasing knowledge ought to be continually and positively valued and revalued. Mature relationships among competitors as well as organizers should take place by observance of rules. These are the general themes of this paper.

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