Neslihan Demir | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | Neslihan Demir Güler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | The Iron Lady | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Turkish | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Eskişehir, Turkey | 9 December 1983|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hometown | Eskişehir, Turkey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 72 kg (159 lb) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spike | 315 cm (124 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Block | 306 cm (120 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Volleyball information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Opposite/Outside Hitter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number | 17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Neslihan Demir (born 9 December 1983) is a retired Turkish volleyball star. She is one of the most successful athletes of Turkey and has been among FIVB Heroes. She represented her country as the flag bearer at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the official advertisement face of Turkey for the 2020 Summer Olympics candidateship along with basketballer Hedo Türkoğlu. She was a left-handed opposite hitter and won numerous individual awards in the international tournaments. She studied at Gazi University. [2]
Neslihan Demir started playing volleyball at Eskişehir DSİ Bentspor in 1995. She played for Yeşilyurt, VakıfBank Güneş Sigorta, Spar Tenerife Marichal, Eczacıbaşı and Galatasaray during her career. She played hundreds of times for Turkish national team at all age levels.
At age 19, Demir was the leading player in the Turkish team that won silver medal at the 2003 European Championship in Turkey making her a star in her home country and in the volleyball scene. Her popularity increased immensely during 2003 World Cup where she was 2nd in Best Scorer and Best Server rankings. Owing to her powerful spikes and serves, she was nicknamed as Demir Leydi (The Iron Lady) which is a reference to her family name Demir.
Playing with VakıfBank Güneş Sigorta she won CEV Top Teams Cup and was named as MVP in 2004. Later, she was awarded Best Scorer in CEV Champions League in 2006. [3] While playing for Tenerife, Demir took a break from volleyball to become a mother in 2007–08 season.
She was awarded Best Scorer at the 2006 World Championship and 2010 World Championship consecutively. [4] She is the first and only volleyball player to achieve this feat.
Demir won two FIVB Club World Championship and a CEV Champions League championships with Eczacıbaşı. She won the Best Spiker award at the 2013-14 CEV Champions League. [5]
Demir was awarded Sportsperson of the Year by Milliyet in 2006 and Volleyball Player of the Year by Sabah in 2003 and 2004. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was chosen to be the flagbearer of her home country. [6] She was named The Ultimate Volleyball Team Leader and honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award at CEV European Volleyball Gala ceremonies in 2014 and 2019 respectively. [7] [8]
Demir was selected as FIVB Hero by FIVB in 2012. [9] She was also selected for Roster 100 by FIVB as one of the 100 most influential volleyball players between 2010 and 2020, being one of the eight female opposite hitters in the selection. [10]
Neslihan Demir married Orkun Darnel, captain of the Galatasaray Swimming team, on 16 July 2006. [11] The couple have a daughter named Zeynep Penelope. [12] Orkun Darnel became manager of Galatasaray Daikin women's volleyball team later. [13] The couple announced their divorce in March 2013. [14] Demir has been married to actor Kamil Güler since 17 June 2014. After retiring from professional volleyball, she worked as a consultant in the Turkish Volleyball Federation. She took up the position of General Manager at her former club Vakıfbank from 2020 to 2023.
Eczacıbaşı Dynavit is the professional women's volleyball department of Eczacıbaşı S.K., a Turkish sports club based in Istanbul, Turkey. The team plays its home matches at the Eczacıbaşı Spor Salonu hall in Istanbul. Eczacıbaşı has won a record 16 Turkish League titles and a record nine Turkish Cups, amongst others. In the 2014–15 season they won the CEV Champions League and that gave them the ticket to capture the 2015 FIVB World Club Championship in Zürich, a year later the club became the first club in the world to win the FIVB World Club Championship back-to-back by defending their crown in the Philippines during the 2016 FIVB World Club Championship in Manila. Eczacıbaşı VitrA is the most successful Turkish volleyball club with 28 national championship titles overall since the introduction of a national league in 1956.
Lyubov Vladimirovna Sokolova is a retired Russian volleyball player, Honored Master of Sports of Russia. She was a member of the national team that won gold medals at the 2006 and 2010 World Championships in Japan, and silver medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Additionally, she’s the only volleyball player who has won 2 World titles in the same year: 2010 World Championship with Russia and 2010 World Club Championship with Fenerbahçe
Mirka Francia Vasconcelos, more commonly known as Mirka Francia, is a Cuban-Italian retired volleyball player who won two Olympic gold medals with the Cuban women's national volleyball team. At 1.84 m (6 ft) tall, she played as a middle blocker before transitioning to an outside hitter later in her career.
Aysun Özbek is a retired Turkish volleyball player. She is 185 cm tall and weighs 73 kg. Playing in the middle blocker position, she played for Vakıfbank Güneş Sigorta since 1996. She wore the number 5 jersey and was the team's captain.
Naz Aydemir Akyol is a Turkish volleyball player. She plays as a setter for Eczacıbaşı Dynavit and the Turkey women's national volleyball team. She has won a total of nine Turkish League championships, four with Vakıfbank, three with Eczacıbaşı and two with Fenerbahçe. She has four CEV Champions League championships, winning three with Vakıfbank and one with Fenerbahçe. She also has three FIVB Club World Championship, winning two with Vakıfbank and one with Fenerbahçe. She was part of the Turkey national team at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
Nedime Elif Ağca Yarar, also known as Nedime Elif Ağca Öner, is a retired national level Turkish volleyball player who last played for Fenerbahçe. She is 186 cm tall and plays as setter. She studied at Marmara University.
Maja Ognjenović is a Serbian professional volleyball player of the Serbia women's national volleyball team and a two-time Olympic medalist. She is a four-time Olympian at the setter position. Ognjenović won gold with the national team at the 2018 World Championship, and the 2011/2019 edition of the European Championship, silver at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Christiane Fürst is a retired German female volleyball player. She plays for Turkish side Eczacıbaşı VitrA.
Jelena Nikolić-Nenadiċ is a retired Serbian professional volleyball player, playing as a wing-spiker. She was a member of the Women's National Team that won silver medal at the 2016 Olympics and gold medal at the 2011 European Championship in Serbia.
Maja Poljak is a Croatian volleyball player. She plays as middle blocker for Dinamo Moscow. She was a member of the Women's National Team that won the silver medal at the 1999 European Championship in Italy.
Tatiana Sergeyevna Kosheleva is a Russian volleyball player. She was a member of the Russia women's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 2010 World Championship, the 2013 European Championship and the 2015 European Championship.
Gözde Kırdar Bracceschi is a Turkish volleyball player that plays as outside hitter for Vakıfbank Spor Kulübü and the Turkish national team.
Özge Kırdar Kinasts is a Turkish volleyball player. She is 182 cm (72 in) and plays as setter. She currently plays for Sporting Clube de Portugal. She is regular national team player.
Bahar Toksoy Guidetti is a Turkish volleyball player. She plays as a middle blocker. In 2024 she currently plays for Beşiktaş Ayos. She plays for the Turkish national team.
Giovanni Guidetti is an Italian volleyball coach. He is the current coach for Serbia women's national volleyball team He's been coaching Turkish team Vakıfbank Spor Kulübü since 2008. He coached the Turkey women's national team between 2017 and 2022.
Zhu Ting is a professional Chinese volleyball player. She is an outside hitter and former captain of the China women's national volleyball team. Currently, she plays for Italian club Imoco Volley Conegliano.
Tijana Bošković is a Serbian professional volleyball player. She has won gold medals with the Serbia women's national volleyball team at the 2018 and 2022 World Championships, and the 2017 and 2019 European Championships. She is also a two-time Olympic medalist, having won silver at the 2016 Rio Games and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Simge Şebnem Aköz is a Turkish professional volleyball player for Eczacıbaşı VitrA and the Turkish national team.
Beyza Arıcı is a Turkish professional volleyball player who plays as a middle blocker for Eczacıbaşı VitrA and the Turkish national team.
Chiaka Sylvia Ogbogu is an American professional volleyball player. She plays for VakıfBank S.K. and the United States women's volleyball team. She participated in the 2018 Pan American Cup and the 2018 and 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League.