Paris 2024: Sevda Altunoluk makes history with third goalball gold

Three Paralympic Golds Turkiye’s Sevda Altunoluk has made history in women’s goalball by winning three Paralympic gold medals. She achieved this feat on September 5 at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, where Turkiye defeated Israel 8-3 in the gold medal match.

Altunoluk is the only player from the Turkiye women’s team to compete in Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024, leading her team to gold in all three games. In the final match, she scored four of Turkiye’s eight goals.

Overwhelmed with Joy “Three finals, three championships, three gold medals. I can’t explain how happy I am,” said Altunoluk.

Since she started playing goalball at age 12, Altunoluk has shown impressive skill and strength. In 2021, she was named one of the BBC’s 100 most influential women of the year.

Altunoluk felt confident about winning the gold medal. “I knew we were going to be champions even before the final,” she said.

Injury and Tears Altunoluk cried during the match, which many thought was just celebration. However, she revealed that she was also in pain from an injury. She had a possible ankle sprain and was feeling a lot of pain but wanted to keep playing for her country.

Family Connection Her younger sister, Sevtap Altunoluk, is also on the goalball team. Both sisters played together in Tokyo and won gold again in Paris.

“It’s an honor to have her on the team,” Sevda said. “We’ve always played for the same club and never against each other. If we did, we’d have to be professional about it.”

Sevtap called her sister “captain” and “my queen,” expressing her love and admiration.

Silver for Israel Israel’s women’s team earned their first-ever goalball medal by winning silver. Although they lost to the champions, they were proud of their achievement.

Roni Ohayon, a player from the Israeli team, said, “I feel proud. Even though we didn’t win gold, we did a great job. I think we can achieve even greater things.”

Teammate Or Mizrahi hopes that the silver medal will bring more attention to goalball in Israel and help the sport grow.

“Just a few days ago, hardly anyone in Israel knew what goalball was. Now, I think everyone knows about it and who we are,” Mizrahi said. “I hope this will help develop the sport in Israel and bring new players into the game.”