This chapter analyzes the transformation of physical education from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, demonstrating how the modern state redefined the body as a political, pedagogical, and biopolitical domain. With the introduction of gymnastics as a compulsory subject through the 1869 Maarif-i Umumiye Nizamnamesi, the body was incorporated into the education system as a formal legal and institutional category for the first time. Reforms implemented during the Second Constitutional Period further integrated physical education with public health, military preparedness, and nation-building. Selim Sırrı Tarcan’s adaptation of the Swedish gymnastics system established a scientific, child-centered, and health-oriented pedagogical model that shaped the foundations of the Republican curriculum. The chapter demonstrates that Republican physical education policies were built upon the institutional accumulation, youth organizations, and emerging modern sports culture that had developed since the Tanzimat era.