Gloria Tallies Up In Rio Medal Hunt

Gloria Sports Arena is basking in a golden glow as it helped deliver a staggering 29 medals at the Olympics and Paralympics.

The state-of-the-art training complex in Belek on the Turkish Riviera attracted hundreds of elite athletes from around the globe across a huge spectrum of sports in preparation for the Rio Games.
Opened in January 2015 at a cost of more than 50m Euros, it offers an extraordinary wealth of sports training facilities and cutting-edge technology with more than 50 disciplines catered for both able-bodied and disabled athletes.



And it culminated in a mighty medal haul with those athletes winning 10 golds, six silvers and 13 bronze medals at the Olympics and Paralympics in Brazil.

German javelin thrower Thomas Röhler was one of 14 medallists in athletics as he struck gold. In the pool, Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjöström led the way with gold in the women's 100m butterfly but also added silver and a bronze in the 200m freestyle and 100m freestyle respectively.

Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Belandin also took gold in the men's 200m breaststroke - one of the 11 medals in swimming.

Turkish wrestler Taha Akgül claimed the gold medal in the men's 125kg category, while Ukraine's Yuriy Cheban sealed top prize in the men's single canoe 200m.

German Paralympian Niko Kappel took home two gold medals in shot put events, while compatriots Franziska Leibhardt, Sebastian Dietz, Markus Rehm also claimed the highest honour.

And both of Germany's men's and women's hockey teams sealed the bronze medals in their respective competitions.

Just 45 minutes from Antalya airport, Gloria Sports Arena also offers the very best in training facilities for a host of sports including rugby, tennis, boxing, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, fencing, futsal, handball, table tennis, indoor hockey, indoor archery and volleyball.

And in football, some of the top international teams and European clubs have also used the complex with the Turkish national team attending a pre-tournament training camp before their Euro 2016 campaign. Ajax and SV Hamburg are also among the top European clubs to have visited in recent months, playing a friendly match at the 1,600-seater stadium.



Richard Ungerhofer, an Austrian certified PE teacher and general manager of Gloria Sports Arena (left), said: "On behalf of Gloria Sports Arena we would like to offer our congratulations to all of the athletes who performed so well in Rio. It was fantastic to watch their incredible performances at both the Olympics and Paralympics.

"We are delighted they chose to use our facilities during their preparations and we take great pride in the fact we were able to share in their success."

The full list of Olympic and Paralympic medal-winners, who trained at Gloria Sports Arena: