Paris 2024 Paralympics | They will give us chills: Sevda Altunoluk

At the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the Turkish women's Goalball team will be able to count on its top scorer Sevda Altunoluk to hope to win a third consecutive gold medal after Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Sevda Altunoluk is a 30-year-old goalball player who was born able-bodied. However, in her third year at primary school, she began to experience sight problems, forcing her to join a sports club for the blind. She then discovered Goalball during her time at secondary school. At the age of 16, she represented Turkey at the European Championships.

Initially, "my parents were not very optimistic about sport, because they wanted me to do better in my studies", she says in an article for the International Paralympic Committee. But with perseverance and hard work, the Turkish athlete climbed the sporting ladder and now describes herself as "the best female Goalball player in the world" because "that's what the people around me and the Goalball community say and think". It was the defeats that made her realise that she must never give up and that she must work harder to do better at the next tournament.

An impressive list of achievements

The best female Goalball player in the world is the main asset of the Turkish women's team. Four-time European champion, two-time Paralympic champion, world champion and top scorer in various international tournaments, Sevda Altunoluk can count on the support of her family. Her sister is also a member of the national team.

"I'm still competitive, but I'm more in control", she says. So she will be arriving at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games focused and determined to go for Turkey's third consecutive Goalball gold medal. By once again being top scorer in the competition, as she was three years ago at Tokyo 2020 (46 goals scored, including 8 in the final)?