European Games 2023: Archery Olympic champion Mete Gazoz talks Tic Tac Bow 

Mete Gazoz is a man on a misson at the 2023 European Games.

Four years after being Türkiye's flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 European Games in Minsk, the Olympic archery gold medallist from Tokyo 2020 in 2021 is hoping for more magic at this year's edition in Krakov.

The 23-year-old is one of 93 archers who are keen to book his country a place for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

"Our main goal is to get a quota spot as a team," said Gazoz to Anadolu Agency. "Our preparations are going well. We have a chance to get a quota in the European Games and the World Championships."

Gazoz won his nation's first-ever Olympic archery gold with the recurve bow two years ago and his life changed overnight.

Soon after, he started dipping his toes into the digital world of competitive archery as well. And he became passionate about it.

In the lead up to Krakov, the Turkish history-maker took part in April's Olympic Esport Series Archery Qualifiers. Gazoz had been playing Tic Tac Bow for at least an hour each day up until that moment

"Esports has always been something that I've wanted to be involved in. I've always wanted to become an esports player," Gazoz told Olympics.com.

Tic Tac Bow is a mobile app game for phone and tablet devices which sees two archers take turns firing at nine targets on a board, laid out like the three-by-three grid from the classic tic tac toe game (also known as noughts and crosses or Xs and Os).

World Archery and Tic Tac Bow have joined forces to give digital archers the opportunity to participate in the inaugural Olympic Esports Series final.

Mete Gazoz on transferring Olympic archery skills to Tic Tac Bow

While playing Tic Tac Bow on a phone may feel quite different to holding a physical bow, there are several similarities. For instance, Tic Tac Bow simulates wind which affects the direction of the arrows.

"The wind seems to have more of an impact because the target moves. For example, a 3km/h wind wouldn't cause anyone to look around in real archery. Everyone would look at the middle." Gazoz said. "In Tic Tac Bow, a 3km/h wind on the target means we have to go seven [or] six steps to the right to hit the bullseye, or maybe even further. That's the biggest difference."

He believes his skills at archery – outside some trickiness with the wind – translates well to the mobile game, even if the unique ruleset and moving targets were tough to get used to.

"They are similar because of the wind. There is wind in real archery as well as in Tic Tac Bow. The only thing is, in Tic Tac Bow, the target moves, unlike in real archery," he said. "Besides that, there is no difference."