Luciana Aymar

Luciana Aymar
	Aymar in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Luciana Paula Aymar
Born	10 August 1977; Rosario, Argentina
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
	Fisherton
	Jockey Club de Rosario
Senior career
National team
Women's field hockey
Representing Argentina
Olympic Games
World Cup
Champions Trophy
Pan American Games
Pan American Cup
Junior World Cup

Luciana Paula Aymar (Spanish pronunciation: [luˈsjana ajˈmaɾ]; born 10 August 1977) is a retired Argentine field hockey player.[1]

She is the only player in history to receive the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times,[2] and she is considered as the best female hockey player of all time.[3][4][5]

Luciana is known for her ability to beat opposing players using her pace and dribbling skills, drawing comparisons with Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona. For this reason she has received the nicknames "La Maga" ("The Magician") and "The Maradona of Field Hockey".

Aymar was the flag bearer for Argentina at the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the second field hockey athlete being honoured this way after Marcelo Garraffo.

Career

Luciana started playing at age seven for Club Atlético Fisherton in her native Rosario. She moved to Jockey Club de Rosario six years later. She gradually began training with the junior national team, for which she had to travel every day to Buenos Aires. In her international career she played for the Rot Weiss Köln from Germany and for Real Club de Barcelona from Spain. In her country, Luciana played for Quilmes Atlético Club and GEBA, where she won La Liga Nacional (The National League) and the Torneo Metropolitano. In 1997 she was part of the Argentina junior team that won the Pan American Games Junior Championship and the bronze medal at the Hockey Junior World Cup and a year later she made her debut for the Argentina senior team, finishing fourth at the 1998 Hockey World Cup. She was the youngest Argentine to be accepted into the squad when she was just 16.

Aymar was part of a generation in Argentine field hockey that went on to win several international tournaments from the 1999 Pan American Games onwards, including four Olympic medals, and six Champions Trophies. She was part of the squad that won the 2002 and 2010 Hockey World Cup, with the latter being held in her hometown Rosario.

In 2008, Luciana was declared Legend of Hockey by International Hockey Federation.

She was the flag bearer for her country at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics Luciana became the second Argentine to achieve 4 medals, being the first sportsman Carlos Espínola.[6]

Luciana played her last international game with Argentina on Sunday 7 December 2014, in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, winning her sixth Champions Trophy.

Awards and honours

International

Luciana Aymar and Soledad Garcia raise the trophy after beating the Netherlands in the 2010 Hockey World Cup at Rosario.

Argentina Junior

Pan American Games: Gold Medal (1997)
Junior World Cup: Bronze Medal (1997)

Argentina

Pan American Games: Gold Medal (1999, 2003, 2007), Silver Medal (2011)
Summer Olympics: Silver Medal (2000, 2012), Bronze Medal (2004, 2008).
Champions Trophy: Gold Medal (2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014), Silver Medal (2002, 2007, 2011), Bronze Medal (2004)
World Cup: Gold Medal (2002, 2010), Bronze Medal (2006, 2014)

Club

Rot-Weiss Köln

European Club Championship: 1998

Real Club de Polo de Barcelona

Copa de la Reina: 2004

GEBA

Liga Nacional: 2008, 2009
Torneo Metropolitano: 2008, 2009

Individual

Champions Trophy's Player of the Tournament: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014
FIH Player of the Year: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013
World Cup's Player of the Tournament: 2002, 2010

References

Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lucha Aymar". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
"Amazing Aymar lands eighth FIH Player of the Year crown". 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
"Luciana Aymar, otra vez la reina del planeta". Cancha Llena (in Spanish). 2010-11-12. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
"Top 10 greatest fild hockey players". The Telegraph.
"Luciana Aymar, the all time greatest hockey player..." Archived from the original on 2016-12-26. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
es:Carlos Mauricio Espínola

External links

Luciana Aymar at the International Hockey Federation
Luciana Aymar at the International Olympic Committee

Awards
Preceded by Alyson Annan	FIH Player of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Cecilia Rognoni
Preceded by Mijntje Donners	FIH Player of the Year 2004–2005	Succeeded by Minke Booij
Preceded by Minke Booij	FIH Player of the Year 2007–2010	Succeeded by Maartje Paumen
Preceded by Maartje Paumen	FIH Player of the Year 2013	Succeeded by Ellen Hoog
Preceded by Juan Martín del Potro	*Olimpia de Oro* 2010	Succeeded by Lionel Messi
Olympic Games
Preceded by Manu Ginóbili	Flagbearer for Argentina London 2012	Succeeded by Luis Scola

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[1] Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lucha Aymar". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2014-12-05.

[2] "Amazing Aymar lands eighth FIH Player of the Year crown". 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2013-12-08.

[3] "Luciana Aymar, otra vez la reina del planeta". Cancha Llena (in Spanish). 2010-11-12. Retrieved 2010-11-18.

[4] "Top 10 greatest fild hockey players". The Telegraph.

[5] "Luciana Aymar, the all time greatest hockey player..." Archived from the original on 2016-12-26. Retrieved 2015-06-06.

[6] s:Carlos Mauricio Espínola