Birsen Bekgöz

Birsen Bekgöz — Biography

Birsen Bekgöz is one of Turkey's leading athletes in the 200 meters and the 400 meters hurdles and holds two Turkish relay records. After her athletics career she reached a wide audience through competition shows. She also competed under the names Birsen Yavuz and Birsen Engin.

She began in sport in Ankara and then joined Bursa Nilüfer Belediyespor; while studying in Northern Cyprus she also ran for that country. As an Enka athlete she became known for her national titles: the 200 meters in 2004 and 2005, and the 400 meters hurdles in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2013. She won the 400 meters hurdles at the 2004 Cezmi Or Cup and took bronze in the 4x400 meters relay at the 2005 Mediterranean Games. At the 2012 London Olympics she ran the 4x400 meters with the team that gave Turkey its first Olympic relay entry. At the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin the 4x400 team was awarded silver after a rival's disqualification, and at the Islamic Games she has gold in the 4x100 meters and silver in the 4x400 meters. With the national relay teams she set Turkish records of 44.71 in the 4x100 and 3:29.42 in the 4x400.

On screen she appeared in 2018 as a contestant on the Volunteers team of Survivor, finishing 14th; she competed in Exatlon Türkiye in 2020 and Survivor Exxen Cup in 2021, and finished 28th in Survivor All Star in 2022.