Adem Asil

Adem Asil (born 21 February 1999) is an Egyptian-born Turkish male artistic gymnast. He represented Turkey at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.^[2] He is the 2022 World Champion on still rings and is the 2023 European all-around champion.

Adem Asil
Asil at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games
Personal information
Alternative name(s)	Abdelrahman Elgamal Abdelrahman Elzamzamy Abdelrahman El Zamzamy
Nickname(s)	Abdel[1]
Country represented	Turkey
Former countries represented	Egypt
Born	(1999-02-21) 21 February 1999 (age 25) Alexandria, Egypt
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2020–present (Turkey) 2007–2017 (Egypt)
Medal record Representing  Turkey Men's artistic gymnastics World Championships 2022 Liverpool Rings European Championships 2023 Antalya All-Around 2023 Antalya Rings 2020 Mersin Team 2022 Munich Rings 2023 Antalya Team 2021 Basel Horizontal Bar 2022 Munich Team 2022 Munich All-Around 2024 Rimini Rings Mediterranean Games 2022 Oran Team 2022 Oran All-Around 2022 Oran Vault 2022 Oran Rings 2022 Oran Horizontal Bar 2022 Oran Floor Exercise Islamic Solidarity Games 2021 Konya Team 2021 Konya All-Around 2021 Konya Rings 2021 Konya Vault 2021 Konya Floor Exercise World University Games 2021 Chengdu Rings

Born Abdelrahman Elzamzamy, he changed his name to Abdelrahman Elgamal when he moved to Turkey and competed under that name at a 2020 European Championship. In 2021, he changed it again to Adem Asil, as a response to the condition of changing a foreign name into Turkish, to obtain naturalization.^[3][4]

Personal life

Abdelrahman Elzamzamy was born in Alexandria, Egypt on 21 February 1999 to a middle-class Egyptian family.^[5][6]

Gymnastics career

Representing Egypt

2017

A member of the Egyptian national team, Elzamzamy took part in the Paris Challenge Cup in France and the Varna Challenge Cup in Bulgaria. He later competed at the World Championships in Montreal where he finished 37th in the all-around during qualification and did not advance to any event finals.^[5]

Representing Turkey

2018–2020

Shortly after the 2017 World Championships, Elzamzamy's coach announced that he was moving to Turkey and invited Elzamzamy to showcase himself in front of the Turkish national coaches. They were impressed with "his work ethic, his evident strength, and his unshakable belief in himself" and invited him to train with the Turkish national team.^[1] Elzamzamy moved to Turkey leaving his parents in Egypt while continuing training gymnastics in Turkey. After becoming a naturalized citizen in 2019 the International Gymnastics Federation approved his request for nationality change; however it wouldn't take effect until 2020.^[7]

Elgamal competed for Turkey the first time at the 2020 Baku World Cup.^[5] He later was chosen to represent Turkey at the 2020 European Championships in Mersin.^[2] He helped Turkey win silver in the team event.^[8] Additionally he finished fourth on rings and horizontal bar.

2021

Elgamal began competing under the name Adem Asil in 2021. At the European Championships Asil finished fifth in the all-around during qualifications and therefore earned an individual Olympic berth to compete at the postponed 2020 Olympic Games. He suffered an injury during the all-around final and did not finish. However he competed during the horizontal bar final and won the bronze medal behind David Belyavskiy and Andy Toba. Asil next competed at the Osijek Challenge Cup and the Doha World Cup, picking up three medals at the former. At the Olympic Games Asil qualified to the all-around, rings, and vault finals. He finished fifteenth in the all-around, seventh on rings, and sixth on vault. Asil finished the year competing at the World Championships where he finished eleventh in the all-around.

2022

Asil started the year competing at the World Cups in Cottbus, Baku, and Osijek. He competed at the Mediterranean Games where he helped Turkey win gold in the team event. Individually Asil won gold in the all-around and on vault, silver on rings and horizontal bar behind İbrahim Çolak and Marios Georgiou respectively, and bronze on floor exercise.

Asil (right) at the Islamic Solidarity Games

Asil next competed at the Islamic Solidarity Games where he helped Turkey once again win gold in the team event. Individually he won gold in the all-around and on rings, silver on vault, and bronze on floor exercise. In August Asil competed at the 2022 European Championships. On the first day of competition Asil won bronze in the all-around behind Joe Fraser and compatriot Ahmet Önder. He helped Turkey win bronze in the team event and individually he won silver on rings behind Eleftherios Petrounias.^[9]

In September Asil competed at the Paris World Challenge Cup. He won gold on both vault and rings.^[10]

At the World Championships Asil helped Turkey finish eleventh during qualifications – their highest placement in history. Individually Asil won gold on rings, earning Turkey's second gold medal on the event after İbrahim Çolak in 2019.^[11]

2023

Asil competed at the 2023 European Championships where he helped Turkey finish second as a team. Individually he won gold in the all-around, becoming the first Turkish gymnast to achieve the feat. During apparatus finals he won gold on rings and placed fifth on vault. Asil next competed at the World University Games where he helped the Turkish team finish ninth. Individually he won bronze on rings behind Lan Xingyu and Zou Jingyuan and placed fifth on vault.^[12]

At the 2023 World Championships Asil helped Turkey finish tenth as a team during qualifications. Although they did not qualify for the team final, they qualified a full team to the 2024 Olympic Games for the first time.^[13]

2024

Asil competed at the 2024 European Championships where he won bronze on rings behind Eleftherios Petrounias and Nikita Simonov. He was named to the team to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games alongside Ferhat Arıcan, İbrahim Çolak, Emre Dodanlı, and Ahmet Önder; they finished ninth during qualifications. Individually Asil qualified to the rings final where he finished fifth.^[14]

Competitive history

Asil (right) at the 2022 European Championships

Year	Event	Team	AA	FX	PH	SR	VT	PB	HB
Senior
representing  Egypt
2017	Varna Challenge Cup					7	5
	World Championships		37
representing  Turkey
2019	Turkish Championships			5	4				5
2020	Turkish Championships
	Baku World Cup						7
	European Championships					4			4
2021	Turkish Championships				4			4
	European Championships		DNF	6
	Osijek Challenge Cup			6
	Doha World Cup			4			4
	Olympic Games		15			7	6
	Turkish Team Championships
	World Championships		11
2022	Cottbus World Cup					4
	Baku World Cup			8		6
	Osijek Challenge Cup								5
	Mediterranean Games
	Islamic Solidarity Games								7
	European Championships			6
	Paris Challenge Cup
	Mersin Challenge Cup						8
	World Championships	11	WD				R1
	Arthur Gander Memorial		5
	Swiss Cup
2023	Cottbus World Cup					5
	Doha World Cup			4				8	4
	DTB Pokal Team Challenge
	European Championships						5
	World University Games	9	WD				5
	World Championships	10	WD
	Arthur Gander Memorial		7
	Swiss Cup	6
2024	Antalya Challenge Cup
	European Championships		9
	Olympic Games	9				5

References

1. "Athlete Inspiration: From Egypt to Turkey, World champion Asil forging a path toward more golden rings". International Gymnastics Federation. 10 January 2023.
2. Pancar, Sezgin; Erkan Tiryaki (12 December 2020). "Artistik Cimnastik Milli Takımı gümüş madalya kazandı". Anadolu News Agency (in Turkish). Retrieved 17 December 2020.
3. Hopkins, Lauren (23 April 2021). "Iordache, Asil Overcome Odds to Earn Olympic Berths". The Gymternet. Slowly but surely, Asil – who was then still competing as Abdelrahman Elzamzamy, and later as Abdelrahman Elgamal – improved under his new coaches.
4. "World Gymnastics Championships: World Champion Adem Asil changes country and name". News Briefs in English. 17 April 2023.
5. "Mısır asıllı cimnastikçi Abdelrahman Elgamal, Türkiye adına yarışacak". Haberler (in Turkish). Retrieved 17 December 2020.
6. "طوكيو 2020 .. تركى من أصول مصرية يتأهل لـ نهائى 3 ميداليات فى الجمباز", mobtada.com, retrieved 14 April 2023
7. "Official News: Summary of decisions from the Executive Committee meeting". International Gymnastics Federation. 21 February 2019.
8. "Ukraine win first men's European team title in Mersin". International Olympic Committee. 12 December 2020.
9. "2022 European Championships results". European Gymnastics. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
10. "USA dazzles in Paris with ten medals, including four gold". International Gymnastics Federation. 26 September 2022.
11. "Giarnni Regini-Moran and Rhys McClenaghan highlight historic first day of apparatus finals". International Olympic Committee. 5 November 2022.
12. "With a haul of nine golds, Chinese gymnasts dominate World University Games". International Gymnast Media. 6 August 2023.
13. "Tarihimizde İlk Kez Takım Olarak Olimpiyat'a Gidiyoruz!" [We are going to the Olympics as a team for the first time in our history!]. Turkish Gymnastics Federation (in Turkish).
14. "Men's Rings - Final results" (PDF). Olympics. 4 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.

External links

• Adem Asil at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Adem Asil at Olympics.com
• Adem Asil at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
• Adem Asil at Olympedia
• Adem Asil at the Turkish Olympic Committee's Olimpedya
• Adem Asil at the Türkiye Milli Olimpiyat Komitesi (in Turkish)
• Abdelrahman Elzamzamy on Instagram