The Turkish team featured two defending Olympic champions from Sydney: Greco-Roman wrestler Hamza Yerlikaya, and weightlifter and world record holder Halil Mutlu, who competed at his fourth Olympic Games as the most sophisticated athlete of the team. Among the Turkish athletes, three of them were born in the former Soviet Union (two of which were previously played for the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona), namely archer Natalia Nasaridze, long distance runner Ebru Kavaklıoğlu, and Belarusian-born heptathlete Anzhela Atroshchenko. Finn sailor Ali Enver Adakan, who achieved a top ten finish in Sydney four years earlier, was appointed by the committee to carry the Turkish flag in the opening ceremony.[1][2]
Turkey left Athens with a total of eleven Olympic medals (three golds, four silver, and four bronze), being considered its most successful Olympics with respect to the overall medal count since 1948.[3] Nearly half of these medals were awarded to the athletes in weightlifting, including a third straight defense for Halil Mutlu in the men's bantamweight class on his final Olympic bid.[4][5]
Turkish athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard).[6][7]
Key
Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
*Eşref Apak originally took fourth place. After a series of doping-related disqualifications he moved up to second place after the gold medalist Koji Murofushi of Japan.[8] However as he had been suspended from the sport for doping offenses since 2004, the IOC decided not to award the silver and bronze medals.[9]
Turkish swimmers earned qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the A-standard time, and 1 at the B-standard time):
