Turkey has a distinctive position with regard to its geography and history among Muslim countries. Particular features are its secular system and far reaching modernization processes particularly with respect to the ‘emancipation’ of women. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze sport and body politics as part of the modernization processes in Turkey and to explore in particular the multiple roles of different groups of women in the reforms initiated by the Turkish Governments. A focus will be on the intersecting influences of gender and social class. The famous archaeologist Halet Çambel will be used as an example of the ‘modern’ woman who embodied reformist ideologies. Çambel was the daughter of an elite family; she was born in Berlin where her father was an attaché at the Turkey embassy. She studied in France and participated in the Olympic Games in 1936. She and another Turkish fencer were the first women from a Muslim country to participate in the Olympic Games. Later she became the most famous archaeologist in Turkey and she stayed physically active all her life. In particular, horse riding became a favourite activity as she travelled to archaeological sites on horseback.