Ayşe Gözütok Explained

Ayşe Gözütok
Birth Date:10 March 1990
Birth Place:Erzurum, Turkey
Curling Club:Milli Piyango CA, Erzurum
World Championship Appearances:1
European Championship Appearances:7

Ayşe Gözütok is a Turkish curler from Erzurum, Turkey.[1] She is the former lead of the Turkish National Women's Curling Team.[2]

Career

In juniors, Gözütok was the alternate on the Turkish junior team that competed at the 2011 Winter Universiade. The team finished with a winless 0–9 record.[3]

Gözütok competed in her first European Curling Championships in 2012 as lead for the Elif Kızılkaya rink. The team finished 4–5 in the B Division, one game short of advancing to the playoff round.[4] After losing in a tiebreaker in both 2014 and 2015, the Turkish women's team qualified for the playoffs in the B Division at the 2016 European Curling Championships, finishing second in the round robin with a 7–2 record. The team then defeated Estonia 10–2 in the semifinal before dropping the final 6–5 to Hungary.[5] Despite the loss, the top two finish earned Turkey a spot in the A Division for the 2017 championship, the first time the country ever qualified to compete in the highest level. At the 2017 European Curling Championships, Dilşat Yıldız led the Turkish squad to a 2–7 ninth-place finish, relegating Turkey back into the B Division for 2018. One of their victories, however, came against the world silver medalists team of Anna Sidorova from Russia.[6] After the 2017–18 season, Gözütok left the national team before rejoining a few seasons later for the 2021–22 season.

The 2021–22 season was a breakout season for Turkish curling, as the nation found relative successful in the international events they attended. At the start of the season, Erzurum hosted the 2021 Pre-Olympic Qualification Event to qualify teams for the 2021 Olympic Qualification Event. In the women's event, the Turkish team succeeded in qualifying for the Olympic Qualification Event, going 5–1 through the round robin and knockout round.[7] Their next event was the 2021 European Curling Championships, where Turkey competed in the A Division. Through the event, Turkey posted three victories against Denmark, Estonia and Italy, enough to finish in seventh place in the group. This seventh-place finish was enough to earn them a direct spot into the 2022 World Women's Curling Championship, the first time Turkey ever qualified for a men's or women's world championship.[8] Next was the Olympic Qualification Event, held December 5 to 18 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Gözütok, with Yıldız, Öznur Polat, Berfin Şengül and Mihriban Polat, finished 3–5 through the round robin. Their three victories, however, came against the top three teams in the event. The team defeated the eventual Olympic gold and silver medalists Eve Muirhead and Satsuki Fujisawa, as well as the silver medalists from 2018 in Korea's Kim Eun-jung.[9] Into the new year, Gözütok and the women's team represented Turkey at the World Championship. After losing multiple close games in extra ends, the Turkish team was able to record their first victory in World Women's Championship history against Czech Republic's Alžběta Baudyšová 7–5 in Draw 17 of the event.[10] The team ultimately finished the event in eleventh place with a 2–10 record, recording their second victory against the Scottish team who had to withdraw before the event began.[11]

Personal life

Gözütok is employed as a teacher. She is married.[1] She attended Atatürk University.

Teams

Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate
2010–11[12] Ayşe Gözütok
Öznur Polat Elif Kızılkaya Şeyda Zengin Ayşe Gözütok Aysun Ergin
2011–12Öznur Polat Elif Kızılkaya Ayşe Gözütok Şeyda Zengin
2012–13Elif Kızılkaya Öznur Polat Dilşat Yıldız Ayşe Gözütok Şeyda Zengin
2013–14Elif Kızılkaya Dilşat Yıldız Ayşe Gözütok Öznur Polat
2014–15Öznur Polat Dilşat Yıldız Semiha Konuksever Ayşe Gözütok Özlem Polat
2015–16Dilşat Yıldız Öznur Polat Semiha Konuksever Ayşe Gözütok Özlem Polat
2016–17Dilşat Yıldız Öznur Polat Semiha Konuksever Ayşe Gözütok
2017–18Dilşat Yıldız Öznur Polat Semiha Konuksever Ayşe Gözütok
2021–22Dilşat Yıldız Öznur Polat Ayşe Gözütok Mihriban Polat

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2022 World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide. Curling Canada. April 8, 2022.
  2. News: Turkish curlers winning fans at World Women's Curling Championship debut. CBC Sports. Andrew Kurjata. March 23, 2022. April 8, 2022.
  3. Web site: Turkish National Team Squad. https://web.archive.org/web/20110118013059/http://www.universiadeerzurum.org/news/393-national-team-squad-has-been-announced. January 18, 2011. April 8, 2022.
  4. Web site: Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2012. World Curling Federation. April 8, 2022.
  5. News: Hungary & Netherlands to challenge for Worlds places. World Curling Federation. November 25, 2016. April 8, 2022.
  6. Web site: ECC 2017 Results Book. CURL IT. April 8, 2022.
  7. News: Czech Republic and Finland men and Latvia and Turkey women qualify for the Olympic Qualification Event. World Curling Federation. October 15, 2021. April 8, 2022.
  8. News: Germany grab last semi-final spot in the women’s last round-robin session. World Curling Federation. November 25, 2021. April 8, 2022.
  9. News: Scotland women qualify for Beijing 2022, while Japan, Korea and Latvia secure play-off spots at the OQE. World Curling Federation. December 16, 2021. April 8, 2022.
  10. News: Turkey record historic first World Championship win. World Curling Federation. March 25, 2022. April 8, 2022.
  11. News: 2022 World Women's Curling Championship: Results, final standings of Canada's Bronze medal performance at the international tournament. Sporting News. Bryan Murphy. March 28, 2022. April 8, 2022.
  12. Web site: Ayşe Gözütok Past Teams. CurlingZone. April 8, 2022.