Our first female Olympian Halet Çambel and her defiance of Hitler

On August 27, 1916, a daughter was born to Cemil Bey, an Ottoman diplomat serving as a military attaché in Berlin, and Remziye Hanım.

They named her Halet. After the proclamation of the Republic, when she was 7 years old, Halet returned to Turkey with her family. They settled into a red, wooden mansion in Arnavutköy. She spent her childhood in that mansion. Halet Hanım describes her first encounter with Atatürk, a close friend of her father, as follows;

“Arnavutköy was a fishing village back then. He would arrive in a small 5-10 meter motorboat. The fishermen and children would shout, ‘The Raider is coming!’ Regardless of whether they were Turkish or Greek, we would greet him with chants of ‘Long live Gazi Pasha.’ Atatürk would come to Todori Tavern. He would set a table there with the fishermen and chat. I had not met him personally, but my older sister had met Atatürk.”

She was a curious child who loved to explore. She had an insatiable appetite for knowledge. However, her frail, weak body caused concern for her family. The year she began high school at the Arnavutköy American College for Girls, known as Robert College, she was also introduced to sports.

From swimming and rowing to horseback riding, she also learned fencing. Sports turned into an inspiring lifestyle that allowed her to measure the capacity of her own body and soul. The “Beşiktaş Gymnastics Club” took Halet onto their fencing team. A very intense training life began. In addition to domestic competitions, Halet Hanım became ready for international tournaments.

In 1933, she drew attention during the performances organized for the 10th Anniversary Celebrations of the Republic. During her six-year fencing adventure at the Beşiktaş Gymnastics Club, her path crossed with Suat Aşeni, the daughter of the club's president, Ahmet Bey. Suat Aşeni, who grew up in a family of athletes, had started with gymnastics and then became interested in fencing.

She took her place in history as Turkey’s first female fencer. In the early days when Suat Hanım started fencing, her opponents were men. The friendship between Suat Aşeni and Halet Çambel turned into a sisterhood story that would be etched in history over time.

When the calendar turned to 1935, Halet Hanım had graduated from high school and started the archaeology department at the Sorbonne University in Paris to study archaeology. She did not neglect to continue her horseback riding and fencing training. She had finished her first year at the university and was preparing to return to Istanbul for a vacation when a letter arrived. The letter stated that she would participate in the Olympic Games to be held in Berlin! Halet Çambel was breathless with excitement. She set off for preparations. Suat Aşeni received the same letter.

HITLER WANTS TO MEET OUR TWO FEMALE ATHLETES REPRESENTING TURKEY

The two young women would take on the responsibility of being the first female athletes to represent Turkey at the Olympics.

Halet Çambel and Suat Aşeni went to Germany in the summer of 1936 with the pride of representing Turkey in Berlin. The Berlin Olympics, marked by the indomitable struggle of Halet Çambel and Suat Aşeni, would be a light for many women who would represent Turkey in different sports in the future. The news that two Turkish women would participate in the Olympics for the first time had also spread to Europe.

Everyone wondered who these two brave women were. All eyes turned to Halet Çambel and Suat Aşeni. Even those of Adolf Hitler, the head of state of Germany at the time... Hitler wanted to meet these two young women and learn their life stories. However, neither Halet Çambel nor Suat Aşeni looked warmly upon Hitler’s invitation. These two brave women, who did not support the Hitler regime, wanted all the peoples of the world to live in peace and tranquility. Both refused to shake Hitler’s hand.

Atatürk had personally requested that Halet Çambel and Suat Aşeni represent Turkey at the Olympics. He wanted them to show the strength of Turkish girls to the whole world in fencing, which was known as a men's sport. Following years of wars that resulted in heavy losses, the proclamation of the Republic and the representation of our country at the Olympics by two young women raised by the Republic meant showing the world that Turkish women were equal to men in terms of rights and freedoms. Atatürk sincerely desired that young girls in the country be inspired by these two female athletes and say “I am here too” in universal sports competitions.

Halet Çambel and Suat Aşeni were taken into heavy training by the great fencing masters of the time in Hungary and worked very hard. They did not place in the Berlin Olympics, but they went down in history as the first female athletes to represent the Republic of Turkey. After her Olympic adventure in fencing, Halet Çambel focused her attention on archaeology. The mysterious world opening up to history underground had always fascinated and intrigued her. She believed that today could only be understood by illuminating the past.

The torch held by Çambel illuminated not only the path of Turkish female athletes who would come after her but also the dusty shelves of history. She became a world-renowned archaeologist. So much so that the master writer Yaşar Kemal expressed this curiosity of hers with these words: “Bringing the underground to the sun was Halet’s greatest skill. People above ground were also learning a brand new world from her. She was sending girls who ran away from school or were not sent to school, to school.

She was a magic among the people. She had become the ‘Halet Sister’ of Anatolia.” During her time as an archaeology professor at Istanbul University, Halet Çambel trained hundreds of archaeologists. She dedicated herself to protecting and promoting the values of her country. She went down in history as a multi-faceted woman of the Republic who inspired future generations with her identity as an educator, scientist, athlete, and intellectual.

88 years after the Berlin Olympics, the Turkish National Team is participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics with a delegation where women outnumber men for the first time. 102 athletes, including 54 women and 48 men, are representing Turkey in 18 branches. And the Paris 2024 Olympics is making history with a first; the number of male and female athletes participating from all countries of the world is equal. So, did you notice the emblem of the Olympic torch? There is a woman smiling in the flame!

May the flame of the torch lit by Halet Çambel shine in the hearts of all our athletes. May courage and perseverance be with them. I wish success to all our national athletes, both men and women. May their luck be with them!

Note: You can listen to the long story of Halet Çambel in our podcast “Those Who Do Not Stray from the Path of the Republic” with Akbank.