Tuğba Karademir

Tuğba Karademir
200px Karademir at the 2008 Skate America.
Personal information
Full name	Tuğba Karademir
Country represented	Turkey
Born	(1985-03-17) March 17, 1985 Ankara
Residence	Barrie, Ontario
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Coach	Robert Tebby
Former coach	Doug Leigh
Choreographer	Kurt Browning
Former choreographer	Jean-Pierre Boulais
Skating club	Kocaeli Kağıtspor
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 in Ankara, Turkey), is a Turkish Canadian former figure skater. She was the flag-bearer for Turkey at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where she placed 21st.

Career

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 Figure Skating 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.

At the 2006 World Figure Skating Championships, Karademir placed 18th with her highest finish to date at that event. In the long program, she finished 16th, giving her the 18th overall finish.

At the 2007 European Figure Skating Championships she achieved a new personal best in her short program and placed 10th overall.

In June 2006, Tuğba Karademir was transferred by the Kocaeli Kağıtspor.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics she received a total score of 129.54, with 50.74 in the short program and 78.80 in the free skate.

Personal

In Turkey, Karademir's 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 Karademir's training. While in Barrie, Tugba was enrolled at a local public school, Allandale Heights. She speaks Turkish and English fluently.

Competitive highlights

Post-2003

Event	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Winter Olympic Games			21st				24th
World Championships	35th	27th	18th	27th	27th	21st	28th
European Championships	23rd	19th	13th	10th	11th	10th	12th
Skate America					9th	11th	12th
Skate Canada				11th
NHK Trophy				10th
Golden Spin of Zagreb	17th	9th			5th		4th
Ondrej Nepela Memorial			4th			2nd
Nebelhorn Trophy					11th	14th
Winter Universiade				14th		11th
Karl Schäfer Memorial	9th	4th	9th	11th
Int. Challenge Cup					2nd

Pre-2003

Event	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
World Championships						30th
European Championships					27th	27th
Turkish Championships	1st	2nd	2nd
Canadian Championships				5th J.
Nebelhorn Trophy						11th
Golden Spin of Zagreb						7th
Balkan Games	1st	2nd	2nd
J. = Junior level

References

• Tuğba Karademir at the International Skating Union

External links

• Official website (Turkish) (English)

Olympic Games
Preceded by Atakan Alaftargil	Flagbearer for Turkey Turin 2006	Succeeded by Kelime Çetinkaya