Sümeyye Boyacı was born as her parents' first child in Eskişehir, Turkey on 5 February 2003.[1][2] She has no arms (bilateral congenital upper extremity agenesis) and a hip dislocation as a birth defect.[2][3]
She was schooled in a special primary school in her hometown, where she learned writing with her foot in the first grade.[4]
Painting career
At the age of four and half, she began painting with her foot.[3] She made a painting for Altın Balık ("The Golden Fish"), the Turkish translation of the Russian book of tale (Russian: Cказка о рыбаке и рыбке) by Alexander Pushkin.[5][6] Her painting was presented to the Turkish President Abdullah Gül for his official visit to Russia.[5] In April 2009, her watercolor paintings were on display in a personal exhibition in Moscow, Russia. Boyacı gifted one of her paintings to the First Lady of Russia Svetlana Medvedeva in 2010.[4][7] In 2014, she participated at an exhibition in Eskişehir for traditional Turkish handicrafts with her paper marblings.[8]
Swimming career
Boyacı decided to begin with swimming as she carefully watched the fish in her aquarium, and discovered that they swim without arms.[3] Boyacı began with swimming in 2008. She has been coached by Mehmet Bayrak since 2012.[2]
In June 2016, she competed at the 30th International German Championships in Berlin.[9] She internationally debuted in the senior class in 2016.[2] She was qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and represented her country in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She failed to capture any medal.[2] She took part at the 2017 European Para Youth Games held in Liguria, Italy, and won the bronze medal in the 50 m Backstroke S1-5 event.[2]
In 2019, she captured the gold medal in the 50 m Backstroke S5 event at the World Para Swimming World Series held in Indianapolis, USA with a time of 45.28.[10] At the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London, U.K., she won the silver medal in the 50 m backstroke S5 event with a time of 44.74.[11]
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