The 25th of August is a day that will be rememberd in Turkish history. The Turkish delegation achieved two significant milestones at the Mediterranean Games: 400 gold medals and a total of 1,000 medals, becoming the third nation to surpass the 1,000 mark, after Italy and France.

The 400th gold was secured by Nesrin Bas in the -68kg freestyle wrestling; whilst the 1,000th medal was secured thanks to Zeynep Yetgil Kamal’s success in the -53kg freestyle wrestling.

Turkey, which went into Taranto 2026 with 970 medals – including 386 golds – won in previous editions, and in four days won the 30 that were needed to reach the 1,000 mark. In detail, on 22 August Turkey won seven medals, 12 on Sunday 23, eight on 24 August, before completing the feat on Tuesday 25.

Turkey’s first medal at the Mediterranean Games came in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1951, and the Turks have stood on the podium in all 20 editions.