Hatice, a young and ambitious weightlifter living with her unemployed mother, aims to win the lifetime allowance provided to athletes who win medals in international competitions. In her pursuit of success, she decides to use an unconventional doping technique at the world championships.

A probing study of how women athletes navigate power, precarity, and the politics of the body, Semih Gülen and Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun’s clear-eyed debut Athlete frames strength as both burden and battleground, offering an unflinching look at what ambition asks of flesh.