Disabled archer. Born on November 24th,
1981, Ankara. As she finished the primary school, Gizem Girişmen had an
accident during the summer holiday. Following a traffic accident, she got T5 level
paraplegia. After many surgeries in Turkey, she moved to Germany for rehabilitation.
After returning home, she studied at Tevfik Fikret High School. After that, she
graduated from business administration of Bilkent University with the honorary
degree. Following the university education, she decided to practice archery
(2004).
Firstly, she participated to Archery Championships
in Italy, 2005. Afterwards, she participated to EPC, Archery European
Championships in 2006 and became third there. She
got the first place at the 2007 IPC Archery World Championships.
Her first priority was to participate to the Paralympic
Games that was held in Beijing and winning the gold medal. She won the gold
medal in the individual category
of Paralympic Games by defeating her Chinese rival Fu
Hongzhi with 91-85 points and won the gold medal. Winning the gold
medal, she confirmed her World Champion status on
2009. That same year, on August, she was selected as the Athlete of the Month by IPC. Moreover, she is the first Turkish sports person
who has been nominated to the “Laureus
World Sportsperson of the Year” Award. Speaking
English, Italian and German; she has also worked as officer in the Ministry of
Public Works.
