Tuğba Karademir
| Tuğba Karademir | |
|---|---|
Karademir at the 2008 Skate America.
|
|
| Personal information | |
| Country represented |
 Turkey
|
| Born |
March 17, 1985 Ankara, Turkey |
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Coach | Robert Tebby, Doug Leigh |
| Choreographer | Kurt Browning, Jean-Pierre Boulais, Steven Cousins |
| Skating club | Kocaeli Kağıtspor |
| Training locations | Barrie, Ontario, Canada |
| Began skating | 1990 |
| Retired | July 2010 |
| ISU personal best scores | |
| Combined total | 138.73 2008 Europeans |
| Short program | 53.88 2010 Europeans |
| Free skate | 89.84 2006 Worlds |
Tuğba Karademir (born on March 17, 1985) is a Turkish former competitive figure skater. She won silver medals at the 2008 International Challenge Cup and 2008 Ondrej Nepela Memorial. She qualified to the free skate at two Winter Olympics (2006 Turin and 2010 Vancouver), two World Championships (2006 Calgary, 2009 Los Angeles), and seven European Championships (2004–2010). She served as the flag-bearer for Turkey at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Karademir was born on March 17, 1985 in Ankara, Turkey. In Turkey, her father, Tayfun, was a restaurateur and her mother, Sabite, worked in the aerospace industry. Upon relocating to Barrie, Ontario, Canada, they initially took on menial jobs to pay for their daughter's training. While in Barrie, she was enrolled at a local public school, Allandale Heights. She speaks Turkish and English fluently.
Karademir started skating at the age of 5, with her kindergarten class, right after the first ice rink opened in Turkey in 1990. At eight years old she competed for the first time internationally for Turkey. In 1995, she won a gold medal at a novice competition at the Balkan Games and a silver medal in the Netherlands.
Turkey had only one ice rink then, and no professional skating coaches. In 1996 her parents decided to move the family to Canada, where she could train seriously. She began training with Robert Tebby at the Mariposa School of Skating.
At the 2006 European Championships, Karademir placed 13th. She then went on to become the first figure skater from Turkey to compete in the Olympic Winter games. She was the flag bearer for Turkey during the opening ceremony. She scored a personal best of 44.2 points in the short program. Combined with her 79.44 points in the free program, she placed 21st overall with a total of 123.64 points.
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