Prof. Dr. Uğur Erdener

Prof Dr Ugur Erdener was appointed president of SportAccord in November 2023 for a four-year term, and has served as president of World Archery since 2005.

He became the first Turkish sportsperson to be elected as the president of an Olympic sport’s international federation and was re-elected for a fifth term in 2021.

Ugur Erdener was a triple jump athlete and a renowned basketball player, where he became a successful coach for many years. Starting with his presidency of the Hacettepe University Sports Club, he assumed important roles in sports administration including professional football clubs.

Bearing responsibilities in Turkish archery since 1982, he served as the president of the Turkish Archery Federation for four terms spanning over 23 years until 2005. He also served the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports as a ministerial advisor.

Erdener was the president of World Archery Europe (then European and Mediterranean Archery Union or EMAU) for five years, before being elected at the presidency of the international archery federation in 2005. Under his leadership, the organisation changed its name from International Archery Federation (or FITA) to World Archery. He was re-elected for a second (2009), third (2013), fourth (2017), and fifth term (2021).

Prof Dr Ugur Erdener has also been president of the Turkish Olympic Committee since 2011 and a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2008, of which he was elected as an executive board member in 2014 and was vice president between 2016 and 2020, serving as chair on several commissions.

The Turk also serves as an executive committee member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and board member of the International Masters Games Association. He was elected a council member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations in 2014, vice president in 2017, and was re-elected in 2021. He represents the International Olympic Committee in the International Testing Agency Foundation Board.

Ugur Erdener graduated with a medical degree from the School of Medicine of Hacettepe University in Ankara in 1977, before completing a residency in ophthalmology, being an associate professor since 1996 and a professor of ophthalmology with a specialisation in oculoplastic surgery since 2001.

He became president and chief executive officer of the Hacettepe University Hospitals and later appointed as rector from 2007 until 2011.

Serving as an academic at the Department of Ophthalmology for 40 years, Prof Dr Ugur Erdener has published over 70 articles in both foreign and domestic journals, and has received numerous awards for his contributions in the fields of both medicine and sport.