Who Is Serhan Dağdan?

Born in İzmir in 1984, Serhan graduated from Celal Bayar University's School of Physical Education and Sports, Department of Sports Management. His athletic life began at 15 with ice hockey, playing for the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and Altay sports clubs.

During his university years he competed professionally across multiple disciplines — water polo, windsurfing, tennis, ice skating, scuba and freediving — earning numerous championships and titles. His competitive drive led him to spearfishing competitions, where he became club-level Turkish champion in 2012.

He then focused on coaching, joining the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation's Spearfishing Technical Committee and serving in technical and administrative roles at national and international events. From 2012 to 2015 he was Head Coach of the Turkish National Spearfishing Team at CMAS Euro-African and World Championships. At the 2013 Helsinki Euro-African Championship, his team placed 2nd on day one and 4th on day two — the greatest Turkish result to that date.

In 2015 he returned to competition as an athlete; after Turkish championships and numerous medals, he won bronze at the 2019 Euro-African Championship in Denmark — the first CMAS medal in the history of the Turkish national team. He is Türkiye's most decorated athlete at World, European and Turkish championships.

As a freediver he has dived across all Turkish waters from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, as well as the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland, the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Red Sea. He served as assistant coach and safety diver for world-record freediver Derya Can across three world records in different disciplines.

To date he has trained over 3,000 people — including many well-known names — in nature and underwater sports: windsurfing, kitesurfing, scuba, freediving, ice skating and spearfishing.