Ela Aydin

Ela Aydin
Personal information
NationalityGerman
Born (1999-01-12) 12 January 1999
Munich, Germany
Height1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Sport
CountryGermany
SportTaekwondo
Event(s) –49 kg,  –57 kg
ClubTSV Dachau 1865 e.V.
Turned pro2018
Coached byDemirhan Aydin
Achievements and titles
Regional finals
Highest world ranking5 (2022)[1]
Medal record
Women's taekwondo
Representing  Germany
Grand Prix
2022 Paris 49 kg
European Championships
2017 Sofia 49 kg
2019 Bari 49 kg
2021 Sofia 49 kg
2022 Manchester 53 kg
Military World Games
2019 Wuhan 49 kg
European U21 Championships
2017 Sofia 53 kg
European Cadet Championships
2013 Bukarest 41 kg
Updated on 16 December 2024

Ela Aydin (born 12 January 1999) is a German taekwondo athlete. Her greatest achievements are a bronze medal at the 2022 Grand Prix in Paris and all together six medals at European Championships.

Career

Junior

Ela Aydin began practicing taekwondo at the age of five and participated in her first competition at age six. When she was 14, she was selected to represent the German national team at her first U15 European Championship in Bucharest in 2013, where she won a bronze medal.[2]

In the years following, Aydin took part in several competitions such as the taekwondo Youth World Championships and several European Championships. In 2016, she tore a cruciate ligament in her knee and due to undergoing surgery had to take a break from competing.[3][4]

Senior

In 2017, Aydin won a silver medal at the U21 European Championships in Sofia. In 2018, she participated in the European Championships in Kazan but lost in the prelims against the eventual European Champion Kristina Tomić from Croatia. She also competed in the Grand Prix series of 2018.[5]

The following year, Aydin won a bronze medal at the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan and a silver medal at the Extra European Championships in Bari. In both competitions, she participated in the Olympic weight class of 49 kilograms. She also competed in the 2019 World Championships in Manchester, where she finished in ninth place, as well as the 2019 European U21 Championships and two Grand Prix competitions.

In early 2021, Aydin won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Sofia.[5] A few months later, she narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Olympics Games, losing to Israeli fighter Avishag Semberg in the semifinals of the tournament. Qualifying for the final would have meant being allowed to participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In September 2022, Ela Aydin won a bronze medal at the Paris Grand Prix - she is the first woman of the German national team to have won a medal at a Grand Prix competition.[6][7][2] She also won a bronze medal at the 2022 European Championships in Manchester.[5] She took part in the 2023 World Championships in Baku. She won her opening match but lost to Dunya Abutaleb from Saudi Arabia in her second match (round of 16).[8]

In March 2024, Aydin participated in the European qualification tournament for the Summer Olympics in Paris, where she won the round of 16 against Zemfira Hasanzade (Azerbaijan) 2:0, but lost to Ilenia Matonti from Italy in the quarter-finals.[9][10] She therefore did not qualify a quota place for the 49 kg weight category at the Olympic Games, as this would have required her to reach the final.[11][12][13] In April 2024, Aydin underwent another cruciate ligament and meniscus surgery.[3]

Personal life

In 2017, Aydin graduated from school with a General Certificate of Secondary Education. In the same year, she joined the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr (German: Sportfördergruppe der Bundeswehr) and completed her basic training by the start of 2018. She has been a Soldier-Athlete (German: Sportsoldat) ever since.[14]

Competitive history

Year[5] Event Location G-Rank Place
2024 Slovenia Open Ljubljana G-1 3rd
German Championships Ochsenhausen - 1st
2023 Croatia Open Zagreb G-1 3rd
Polish Open Warsaw G-1 3rd
Tallinn Open Tallinn G-1 1st
European Clubs Championships Sofia G-1 1st
US Open Las Vegas G-2 3rd
German Championships Nuremberg - 2nd
2022 Dutch Open Eindhoven G-1 1st
Grand Prix Paris G-6 3rd
European Clubs Championships Tallinn G-2 2nd
European Championships Manchester G-4 3rd
Spanish Open La Nucia G-2 3rd
Turkish Open Antalya G-2 1st
Fujairah Open Fujairah G-2 1st
German Championships Weißenburg - 1st
2021 French Open Paris G-1 3rd
Montenegro Open Podgorica G-1 3rd
Albania Open Tirana G-1 3rd
WT Presidents Cup - Europe Istanbul G-1 2nd
Tallinn Open Tallinn G-1 1st
Beirut Open Beirut G-2 2nd
Spanish Open Alicante G-1 3rd
European Championships Sofia G-4 3rd
German Championships Dortmund - 1st
2020 Sofia Open Sofia G-1 3rd
German Open Hamburg G-2 2nd
Helsingborg Open Helsingborg G-1 3rd
German Championships Lünen - 1st
2019 Extra European Championships Bari G-4 2nd
Military World Games Wuhan G-2 3rd
Austrian Open Innsbruck G-1 3rd
WT Presidents Cup - Africa Agadir G-1 3rd
Dutch Open Nijmegen G-1 3rd
US Open Las Vegas G-1 3rd
Slovenia Open Maribor G-1 1st
German Championships Nuremberg - 2nd
2018 Luxembourg Open Luxembourg G-1 3rd
Multi European Games Plodiv G-1 1st
Austrian Open Innsbruck G-1 1st
2017 Croatia Open Zagreb G-4 2nd
Serbia Open Belgrade G-1 3rd
Riga Open Riga G-1 2nd
Polish Open Warsaw G-1 1st
Austrian Open Innsbruck G-1 2nd
European Championships (U21) Sofia G-4 2nd
2014 German Championships Gummersbach - 2nd
2013 European Championships (cadets) Bucharest G-4 3rd

References

  1. ^ http://www.worldtaekwondo.org/ranking/ranking.html
  2. ^ a b "Aydin gewinnt Bronze beim Grand Prix in Paris". sport.de (in German). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Deutsche Taekwondo Union e.V.: Mitglied". dtu.de. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Ela Aydin: "Eine stärkere und erfolgreichere Ela als davor." | Menschen". athlet.one. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "TaekwondoData". TaekwondoData. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  6. ^ "[World Taekwondo] Results - Day 1". worldtaekwondo.org. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Taekwondo | Olympia-Qualifikation | Damen 49kg & 57kg & Herren 58kg | World Grand Prix | Paris". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022.
  8. ^ "[World Taekwondo] Result_Day 3". worldtaekwondo.org. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  9. ^ https://europetaekwondo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EQT-Olympic-P11-Competition-Draw-Sheet-with-results-DAY-1-1.pdf
  10. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20240309223540/https://europetaekwondo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EQT-Olympic-P11-Competition-Draw-Sheet-with-results-DAY-1-1.pdf
  11. ^ "[World Taekwondo] Paris 2024 Olympic Games Qualification System". m.worldtaekwondo.org. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  12. ^ https://europetaekwondo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EQT-Olympic-P11-Competition-Draw-Sheet-DAY-1-09-MAR-2024.pdf
  13. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20240309124927/https://europetaekwondo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EQT-Olympic-P11-Competition-Draw-Sheet-DAY-1-09-MAR-2024.pdf
  14. ^ "Ela Aydin". Ela Aydin (in German). Retrieved 14 September 2022.