Elif Altınkaynak

Elif Altınkaynak — Biography

Elif Altınkaynak Çahlıyan is a recurve archer who was one of the leading names in Turkish women's archery in the 1990s and 2000s, reaching fourth place at two Olympic Games. After her competitive career she also worked as a coach. She collected medals at both world and European championships, mainly in team events.

Her first major international results came in the mid-1990s: bronze with the women's team at the 1994 European Championships, team silver at the 1995 World Championships and team bronze in 1997. She also had an individual bronze at the 1996 European Championships. She won team silver at the 1999 Havana and 2003 Nîmes indoor world championships, silver again at the 1998 Oldenburg European Indoor Championships, and gold with the Turkish women's team at the 2000 European Championships in Antalya. She set European records of 1963 points in the 1996 team 70-metre round and 4009 points in the 1998 team 1440 round.

Her best individual Olympic result came in Atlanta in 1996: she finished the ranking round sixth with 663 points, lost to He Ying of China in the semi-final and to Olena Sadovnycha of Ukraine in the bronze-medal match, and was fourth; the team also finished fourth. In Sydney in 2000 she represented Turkey for the second time; she went out in the second round of the individual event to finish 28th, and in the team event lost to Ukraine in the semi-final and Germany in the bronze match, again placing fourth.