Elif Bay

Happy birthday to Türkiye’s sprinter Elif Bay, who spent this summer collecting a qualification most athletes only get around to long after they stop racing.

In July, Elif graduated from Nişantaşı University as a sport scientist and coach. Her own coach, Hakan Özel, marked the occasion publicly, and within a week she was posting from the track again. She races the full sprint program for Türkiye: 60m indoors at the Ataköy Arena in Istanbul, 100m and 200m outdoors, and the 4x100m relay.

There is something worth saying about an athlete who goes and learns the science of her own event while she is still competing in it. Sprinters spend years being handed training programs. Elif now understands from the inside why each session is written the way it is, which changes an athlete’s relationship with her own preparation permanently. Coaches spend whole careers trying to teach athletes to think that way. She went and got the degree instead.

İyi ki doğdun, Elif! Doğum günün kutlu olsun, nice yıllara ve nice hızlı saniyelere! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇹🇷