Discovered at the age of 10 during the sports talent screenings conducted by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club in schools, Sema Mete has attracted attention with her difficult injuries, intense training tempo and her struggle against older opponents. The young athlete, who has won many medals in Türkiye and internationally, now has an Olympic medal as her new goal.
Discovered during the sports talent screenings conducted by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club in schools, the club’s licensed judoka Sema Mete has achieved great success in the national and international arena. Having won 2019 Turkish Championships in the national tournaments she has participated in since 10, the 17-year-old national judoka also managed to win three gold medals in the U2024 and Youth Turkish Championships she participated in in 2025 and XNUMX. She won the silver medal in the “Seniors” category, where she competed for the first time in January.
Great performance in Europe
Having reached the top in all the tournaments she participated in at the national level, Sema Mete has turned her route to Europe. She has achieved significant success by defeating her opponents from Slovenia, Germany, Russia, Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Austria, Estonia, Netherlands, England, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Macedonia one by one in the 14 international organizations she participated in. The judoka, who came in third in the Junior European Cup held in the Czech Republic and Germany in April 2024 and in the European Cup held in Germany in July 2024, was defeated by an opponent 8 years her senior in the Senior European Cup held in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, on March 9-2025, 29, with 302 athletes from 13 countries participating, and ended up with the silver medal.
“Injury did not stop me”
Young athlete Sema Mete, who suffered a serious injury at the beginning of her career and underwent anterior cruciate ligament surgery, stated that these successes did not come easy at all, and said, “It was not easy to come back after the injury. I tried to recover both my body and my psychology for a year and a half. I came third in my first competition, but when I won the Balkan Championship, I said, ‘Okay, I'm on it!’ Then, winning the bronze medal in the world championship gave me great morale.”
“Competing with the big guys is a different level”
Sema Mete, who started competing in the senior category despite her young age, said that the experience she had here was important and said, “I competed with opponents who were older than me. I was very stressed at first, but I thought about the hours I spent in training and the days I was away from my family. I said, ‘There should be a reward for all this effort’ and I prepared myself very well mentally. When I reached the final in Montenegro, my hands and feet were shaking. I really wanted to win, but I made a mistake in the last 20 seconds and lost to my opponent. This was a huge lesson for me. I realized that I needed to work harder to be successful in the senior category.”
Strict discipline, great sacrifice
Mete has a very busy day. The day starts with a nature walk in the early morning hours and continues with double training and mental preparations. The young athlete said, “We pay attention to every detail before and after training. Everything from our nutrition to our sleep schedule is on a certain schedule. While my friends are out and about, I am training, but I know that we will be the winners in the future.”
Target Olympic medal
Sema, who continues her high school education along with her judo career, is focused on the future. Stating that Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay’s goal of raising and supporting champion athletes motivates her and her friends even more, Sema Mete said that her biggest dream is to carry our star and crescent flag to the top in the international arena, and said, “Now we have bigger goals ahead of us. I want to achieve greater success in the European and World Championships and win a medal in the Los Angeles Olympics. I am grateful to my teachers and teammates who contributed to my training. I will work harder and fight for the best.”
