Gülşah Günenç

Who is Gülşah Günenç?

Gülşah Günenç is a Turkish swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. She first represented Turkey at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and competed for two butterfly events. On the first day of the competition, Gunenc swam in the first heat of the women's 100 m butterfly event, finishing in third place and thirty-fifth overall, with a time of 1:04.30. Few days later, she qualified for the 200 m butterfly, where she placed thirty-first in the heats, with a time of 2:20.17, despite having suffered from a fever.

In 2006, Gunenc competed at the FINA World Swimming Short Course Championships in Shanghai, China, where she broke her home nation's record in both the 100 and 200 m butterfly events. She advanced into the semi-finals of her first event, with an impressive time of 1:01.06, while she swam in her second event, for the recording time of 2:11.96.

At her second Olympics in Beijing, Gunenc qualified only for the women's 200 m butterfly event, but improved her best personal marks from previous international competitions. She came second in the first heat, by nine hundredths of a second ahead of Norway's Ingvild Snildal, and set a national record for the long course swimming, with a time of 2:14.44. Gunenc, however, failed to advance into the semi-final rounds, as she placed thirty-second in the overall rankings.