Pınar Saka
# Pınar Saka

Pınar Saka (born 5 November 1985) is a Turkish female track running athlete in the sprint discipline competing in the categories 100 m, 200 m and 400 m. She is the Turkish national record holder for 400 m. This time is the first time a Turkish woman ran under 52 seconds and also a qualifying mark for Olympics that will be held in London in 2012. She was chosen as Regional Athlete of the Year in Midwest both in 2008 and 2009. There were 8 regional athletes nominated for "National Athlete of the Year" award and in 2009, she receiveds that honor.

Saka was born in Üsküdar, Istanbul. She studied international business at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the USA. The 163 cm (5 ft 4 in) tall athlete at 53 kg (117 lb) is a member of Enkaspor in Istanbul, where she is coached by Öznur Dursun.

Saka participated at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería, Spain in the categories 4x100 m relay, 400 m and 4x400 m relay. She ran bronze medal in the 4x400 m relay in 3:40.75 with her teammates Birsen Bekgöz, Özge Gürler and Binnaz Uslu.

In 2011 Saka won the silver medal at the 26th Summer Universiade in Shenzhen together with a team consisting of Nagihan Karadere, Merve Aydın and Meliz Redif, with a time of 3.31.05.

Saka qualified for participation in the 400 m event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

She is doing her MBA degree at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.

## Doping

Pınar Saka was in 2013 sanctioned as a result of abnormalities detected in her biological passport. She was disqualified from 18 June 2010 and got three years ineligibility ending 23 May 2015.

## Achievements

Her personal best performances are:

* 100 m 11.93 (2003)
* 200 m 23.97 (2003)
* 200 m Indoor 23.90
* 400 m 51.53 (2011) NR
* 400 m Indoor 52.99 (2011) NR

NR: Turkish national record

