Elis Özbay

Elis Özbay (born 24 July 2001) is a Turkish rower competing in the lightweight single sculls and double sculls events. She is qualified to participate at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, as the first Turkish female rower.

Career
In her youth years, Özbay played volleyball five years long. She then switched over to rowing with the encouragement of her physical education teacher in the school. She entered Academy of Fenerbahçe Rowing. In the beginning, she found this sport hard because her hands were wounded while rowing. For her development, the club imported a carbon fiber racing shell from Italy worth €20,000.

Özbay is 1.73m tall.

2021
At the 2021 World Rowing Cup in Zagreb, Croatia, Özbay won the bronze medal in the lightweight single sculls (LW1x) event.

She claimed the gold medal in the Lightweight Double Sculls (LW2x) event at the 2021 World Rowing U23 Championships in Račice, Czech Republic.

She captured the gold medal with her teammate in the Lightweight Double Sculls (BLW2x) event at the 2021 European Rowing U23 Championships in Kruszwica, Poland.

2022
She won the silver medal in the Lightweight Single Sculls (LW1x) event at the 2022 World Rowing U23 Championships in Varese, Italy.

She became champion in the Lightweight Single Sculls (BLW1x) event at the 2022 European Rowing U23 Championships in Heindonk, Belgium.

At the 2022 European Universities Rowing Championships in Golden Horn, Istanbul, Turkey, she became champion in the lightweight single sculls event.

2023
At the Croatia Open 2023 in Zagreb, Croatia, Özbay took the silver medal in the single sculls (SWA1x) event.

She finished the Final E of the single sculls event at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia as runner-up ranking 26 in total.

She won the gold medal in the Lightweght Single Scull event at the 2023 World Rowing U23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

2024
Özbay received the bronze medal in the single sculls event at the 2024 Croatia Open in Zagreb, Croatia.

She competed at the Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in May 2024.According to her ranking, she qualified to represent her country at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, as the first Turkish femalele rower.

Personal life
Elis Özbay was born on 24 July 2001.

She is a student of logistics management at Yeditepe University.