While Turkey was still recovering from the wounds of the War of Independence, it gave importance to sports even under those conditions and participated in the 1936 Olympics with 48 athletes. Among these athletes were the athletes of our first national sailing team.

 

The early 1930s were a time when the world was struggling with economic crises and the footsteps of the impending war could be heard everywhere. Our republic, which was only seven years old, was making breakthroughs in industry, building a network of railroads and switching to tractors in agriculture. In all this struggle for development, sports was also finding its place and ways to participate in the Olympics were being sought. Economic opportunities were not enough to send athletes to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. But the 1936 Berlin Olympics was a unique chance for modern Turkish youth.

 

At that time, Istanbul's Kalamış district was a kind of water sports center. The international Star Boat race organized by the Wittall family from Izmir was held here. The Moda races, organized since the reign of Sultan Mehmed Reşad, continued. Both President Atatürk and Prime Ministers İsmet İnönü and Celal Bayar came to watch the Moda races every year. They wanted the youth of the Republic to be at sea.

 

 

In 1936, we participated for the first time in the Berlin Olympics, which were decorated with the flags of fascism and boycotted by Russia. Our athletes competed for gold medals in wrestling, football, basketball, equestrianism, cycling and fencing, as well as in sailing, and managed to win one gold and one bronze in wrestling.

 

We participated in the sailing races held in Kiel, Germany with the sailing team consisting of Harun Ülman and Behzat Baydar. The races started on August 20 and ended on September 8, with seven races in four classes. A total of 169 competitors took part in the races and the teams from the Netherlands, England, Germany and Italy won gold medals in their respective classes. Our national athletes Harun Ülman and Behzat Baydar scored 38 points and came eighth among 12 teams in the "Two Person Keelboat" class. Ülman and Baydar had named their boat "Marmara".

 

 

In September of the same year, Mustafa Kemal welcomed King Edward VIII of Great Britain on the yacht Ertuğrul in Kalamış Bay. He presented our Olympic athletes to the King and they watched swimming, rowing and sailing races together.

 

It was in those years that the foundations of the tradition that thousands of sailing enthusiasts and sailing athletes continue today were laid.