Derya Büyükuncu (; born 2 July 1976) is a six-time Olympic backstroke and butterfly swimmer from Turkey. The tall athlete at is a member of Galatasaray Swimming. His coach is Zehra Büyükuncu.
He participated in six consecutive Summer Olympic Games: 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London. He is one of the first two (together with Lars Frölander) swimmers to participate in six Olympic Games.
Early years At the age of nine, Büyükuncu became a national swimmer, and won a bronze medal in the 12-year-age category at the 1985 Balkan Swimming Championships held in Bulgaria. At the 1987 Balkan Championships held in İzmir, he won five gold medals. He repeated his five-fold gold medal performance at the 1989 Balkan Championships in Greece. In 1990, he took three gold medals at the Balkan Junior Championships held in Romania.
Büyükuncu earned two gold medals at the 1991 European Junior Swimming Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. That year, he was named "Sportsman of the Year" by Milliyet. In 1992, he won the gold medal at the European Junior Swimming Championships held in Leeds, United Kingdom setting a new European juniors record. In so doing, he became the first ever Turkish swimmer to hold a European juniors record.
Büyükuncu set a Games record in the 200m backstroke event at the 1993 Mediterranean Games in France and won the gold medal. The same year, he won two gold medals at the U.S. Open in Ann Arbor, Michigan and broke the record in the 100 yard backstroke event, beating world champion and record holder Jeff Rouse. Setting a record in the 100 yard backstroke, that is as of 2012 still unbroken, and a record in the 100 yard freestyle, Büyükuncu won two gold medals at the 1994 U.S. High School Swimming Championships. In 1993, he was named the "Male High School Swimmer of the Year" by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) in the USA. He became the first ever Turkish swimmer to appear on the cover of Swimming World Magazine''' in August 1994.
Between 1994 and 1998, Büyükuncu set University of Michigan records in the 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 100 m butterfly events. In that time span, he set Big Ten Conference records in 100m and 200m backstroke, and was named the "Most Successful Swimmer" of Big Ten Conference in 1996 and 1998.
Athletic career In 1996, Derya Büyükuncu earned five gold medals at the 1996 Balkan Championships in Romania. He took the bronze medal at the 1997 Mediterranean Games in Bari, Italy. Winning a gold medal at the 1998 World Swimming Cup in Canada, he became the first ever Turkish swimmer to win an international competition.
In the 100m backstroke event, he earned a silver medal at the European Short Course Swimming Championships 1999 in Lisbon, Portugal and a bronze medal at the 2000 European Aquatics Championships held in Helsinki, Finland.
As of 2012, Büyükuncu holds national records in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events set in 2009. He has been in the Turkey national team for more than 25 years.
Büyükuncu qualified to participate at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 2012 Summer Olympics was his sixth consecutive Olympics.
Büyükuncu was sentenced to permanent deprivation of rights and an arrest warrant was issued for his post on his Twitter account against President Erdogan, who had coronavirus in 2022.
Media career Derya Büyükuncu participated at the Yok Böyle Dans (Turkish version of Dancing with the Stars) TV Show in 2010 and he got the fourth place. He also participated at the Survivor Turkey TV Show in 2011 and ended up winning the title of "Sole Champion Survivor".
Achievements 1991Mediterranean GamesAthens, Greece2nd100m backstroke1992European Junior ChampionshipsLeeds, United Kingdom1st100m backstroke58.53 Summer OlympicsBarcelona, Spain5th qual h100m backstroke57.388th qual h200m backstroke2:06.011993Mediterranean GamesNice, France1st200m backstroke1996Summer OlympicsAtlanta, Georgia, United States27th100 butterfly54.8919th100m backstroke56.7121st200m backstroke2:04.281997Mediterranean GamesBari, Italy3rd100m backstroke1998World Aquatics ChampionshipsPerth, Australia22nd100m freestyle51.5827th qual h100m butterfly55.7327th qual h100m backstroke57.311999European Championships SCLisbon, Portugal2nd100m backstroke53.172000European Aquatics ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland3rd100m backstrokeFINA World Championships SCAthens, Greece3rd100 m backstroke52.88Summer OlympicsSydney, Australia15th qual h100m backstroke56.212004European Short Course ChampionshipsVienna, Austria8th100m backstroke4th200m backstrokeSummer OlympicsAthens, Greece26th pl 100m backstroke56.3422nd200m backstroke2:02.69European Aquatics ChampionshipsMadrid, Spain13th SF50m backstroke26.628th100m backstroke56.147th200m backstroke2:02.122005World Aquatics ChampionshipsMontreal, Canada29th100m backstroke56.8114th sf200m backstroke2:01.582007European Short Course ChampionshipsDebrecen, Hungary10th200m backstrokeWorld Aquatics ChampionshipsMelbourne, Australia28th50m backstroke26.7127th100m backstroke56.5018th200m backstroke2:01.572008FINA World Short Course ChampionshipsManchester, United Kingdom18th50m backstroke18th100m backstroke10th200m backstrokeSummer OlympicsBeijing, China24th100m backstroke55.4322nd200m backstroke1:59.862009World Aquatics ChampionshipsRome, Italy20th h50m backstroke26.0717th h100m backstroke55.7823rd h200m backstroke1:59.492010FINA World Short Course ChampionshipsDubai, United Arab Emirates13th200m backstrokeEuropean Short Course ChampionshipsEindhoven, Netherlands11th100m backstroke5th200m backstrokeEuropean Aquatics ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary28th50m backstroke22nd100m backstroke15th200m backstroke
Recognitions 1991 Milliyet'' "Sportsman of the Year" 1993 National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) "Male High School Swimmer of the Year" 1998 "Most Successful Swimmer" of the Big Ten Conference
References
External links Personal website