Osman Ozan Yıldırım(11/3/1977-09/08/2006) is the founder of the world’s largest Spearfishing forum. He was born in Baddriburg, Germany in 1977. Only after a year his brother Okan was born and thus his family decided to move back to Turkey.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND CAREER OVERVIEW
The family settled down in Izmir, which is a beautiful city by the sea. Following his primary and secondary education, Ozan tried his chance at the university entrance examination. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he finally managed to get a place at the Public affairs department of Eskişehir Anatolian University. Meanwhile, he became a computer technician through his own effort without any formal training. He and his brother set up an internet cafe in Izmir. In 2001, they decided to enlarge their investments and as the first step Ozan became the manager of Superonline E-Base Cafe in Bodrum, a famous holiday spot in Turkey. Getting the necessary experience, Ozan decided that it was time to open a branch of their internet cafe in Bodrum. In 2003, with the insistance of his family he quit the cafe in Bodrum and returned to Izmir. In 2004, while still running the cafe in Izmir Ozan set up the web site ZIPKINCI(SPEARO).com, realizing an early dream. In 2005, the cafe in Izmir was also sold and then Ozan was free to devote all his time to his utmost passion.
THE PASSION DEEP INSIDE
From then on, spearfishing and free diving went far beyond a hobby and became a full time Professional activity for him. In fact, it all started when he was only ten. His father bought a summer house by the seaside in Karaburun, Turkey. As soon as he learnt how to swim, he begged his father to buy him a speargun. And once he was given one as a present, the passion inside grew bigger and bigger. With the foundation of ZIPKINCI, he started to share his passion first with a few people but after a while with thousands and his site soon developed into the world’s largest spearfishing forum.
THE ETERNAL JOURNEY INTO THE BLUE
In 2006, Ozan was about to graduate from university and was getting ready to get married. He was planning to set up a diving equipment store which was going to be run in paralel with ZIPKINCI. Also, a national freediving magazine was going to be published. However, we lost him. He died while spearfishing off the coast of Çeşme, as a result of Shallow Water Blackout. We’ll never forget him.
WHEREVER YOU ARE WE LOVE YOU BROTHER REST IN PEACE…
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