Olympic duo Gazoz and Anagoz make Med Games history with gold

Turkey’s double-Olympian recurve pairing of  Yasemin Anagoz and Mete Gazoz made Mediterranean Games history when they won the first-ever recurve mixed team gold medal in Oran, Algeria yesterday.

The 19th edition of the regional multisport event featured five events for archers shooting a recurve bow. Italy’s Federico Musolesi and Spain’s Leyre Fernandez Infante won the men’s and women’s titles while teams from France and Turkey took the men’s and women’s golds, respectively.

“We did what we had to do,” said Anagoz in an Instagram post.

“Male and female athletes competed together for the first time [in mixed] and to get a first in the history of such an important tournament, it would not suit us to lose the gold medal to someone else.”

According to Anagoz, this was also Turkey’s first gold medal in the history of the event. Archery was added to the programme in 1971.

“Our gold medals around our necks, what I felt when I hugged Mete, and that rightful expression of pride on my coach Goktug’s face,” she said. “I missed this moment so much.”

Gazoz and Anagoz had entered the brackets seeded top (1319 points in qualifying) and dispatched Cyprus, then Spain in the semifinals before a 5-3 victory over Italy in the final. Spain beat Greece, 6-2, to take bronze.

In the recurve men’s individual event, third qualifier Federico Musolesi defeated top seed and Olympic Champion Gazoz in the final, 6-4, while his Italian teammate (and Olympic silver medallist) Mauro Nespoli secured bronze with a 7-3 victory over Nicolas Bernardi.

The Italian pair were recent recurve men’s team winners at the 2022 European Championships.

Spain's Fernandez, fresh off her first-ever Hyundai Archery World Cup stage medal – mixed team silver in Paris – went one step better on the podium, taking recurve women’s individual gold.

The eighth seed (635) saw off Italy’s Lucilla Boari for gold, 7-1 – the same score by which she had also defeated Anagoz in the quarterfinals. France’s Anaëlle Florent won bronze.

Anagoz ended the event with two team gold medals as the Turkish recurve women's team, which was completed by Ezgi Basaran and recent European Champion Gulnaz Coskun, saw off Italy in the final, 5-3. France won bronze.

The French men’s trio of Iban Bariteaud, Nicolas Bernardi and Romain Fichet beat Spain to the title (6-2), with Gazoz and Turkey securing bronze after a 28-26 tiebreak with Italy.

Photos courtesy Yasemin Anagoz/Instagram and Mediterranean Games/Facebook.

Champions: Oran 2022

• Recurve men: Federico Musolesi, Italy
• Recurve women: Leyre Fernandez Infante, Spain
• Recurve men team:  France (Iban Bariteaud, Nicolas Bernardi, Romain Fichet)
• Recurve women team:  Turkey (Yasemin Anagoz, Ezgi Basaran, Gulnaz Coskun)
• Recurve mixed team:  Turkey (Yasemin Anagoz, Mete Gazoz)

Medal table: Oran 2022

1.  Turkey: 4 (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
2.  Italy: 5 (1 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)
3.  Spain: 3 (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
4.  France: 3 (1 gold, 2 bronze)

Athletes representing four countries collected 15 medals across five events in Oran.