About Derya Büyükuncu Derya Büyükuncu (born July 2, 1976) is an olympic backstroke and butterfly swimmer from Turkey, who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992. Beijing 2008 was his fifth Olympic Games. He won the bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke at the 2000 FINA Short Course World Championships, behind America's Neil Walker and Cuba's Rodolfo Falcon. He is currently a member of the Galatasaray Swimming squad. Scoring 52.88 seconds, Büyükuncu broke his own record of 53.17 seconds for Turkey which he had obtained a couple of months before, at the European Short Course Swimming Championships 1999 in Lisbon, Portugal. He has been the first ever Turkish swimmer to have swum in less than 53 seconds. Scoring 53.34 seconds in the semifinals, Büyükuncu became eligible to swim in the finals. His performance was remarkable in the finals, and he swam for 52.88 seconds becoming the 'first` Turkish swimmer ever to be accorded the place of honour at a world championship. Büyükuncu had previously won a gold medal at the World Swimming Cup event, a silver medal at the European Short Course Swimming Championships and he also participated in other European Championships. Büyükuncu is still studying at Los Angeles University in the United States, after a long spell in the 1990s with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2009, during the LEN Shourt Course European Championships, Buyukuncu became a finalist in 200 m backstroke. He became 5th in Europe at the age of 33.