Selim Tarcan

Selim Sırrı Tarcan studied physical education and gymnastics at the Royal Swedish Military Academy, returning to Turkey in 1911. As a youth he played football with the Smyrna Club, playing four known matches in 1989 in Izmir. He worked as a physical education instructor until the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, and in 1931 became Turkey’s head inspector for physical education within the Ministry of National Education, serving in that role until he retired in 1935. He then entered politics and ran for a seat in the parliament from the Republican People’s Party. He was successful and was re-elected twice more in 1939 and 1943 as Deputy of Ordu.

Tarcan met Pierre de Coubertin in 1907, during the latter’s visit to Istanbul and was asked to form a Turkish Olympic Committee. He did so in 1908, after the declaration of the Second Constitutional Monarchy. After World War I Turkey was banished from the IOC due to its wartime activities, but it was re-admitted in 1921 and Tarcan re-established the Turkish Olympic Committee in 1922. He served as chairman until he resigned in 1926. Tarcan pioneered volleyball as a sport in Turkey, teaching the basics to sports instructors in the 1920s. He wrote over 50 books and perhaps 2,500 sports-related articles. He was an IOC Member from 1908-30.