Anu Kristiina Nieminen (born 16 December 1977; née Weckström) is a Finnish
badminton player. Born in
Helsinki, Nieminen has joined the national team in 1994. She is one of the best badminton players in Finland, having won twelve times
National Championships
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, i ...
, and competed at the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
in four consecutive times.
Nieminen first represented
Finland at the Olympic level at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
in Sydney. She reached the second round before losing to
Kanako Yonekura of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. In
2004 Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
, she defeated in the round of 32 to
Kaori Mori
is a former Japanese badminton player. She was the women's singles national champion in 2001 and 2003. Mori won the bronze medal at the 2004 Asian Championships and also the silver medals in 2005 and 2006. She played badminton at the 2004 Sum ...
of Japan. In 2006, she signed with the Finnish cosmetics company Lumene, along with her husband, professional tennis player
Jarkko Nieminen.
Nieminen competed at the
2008 Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...
, she again reached the second round, this time losing to
Huaiwen Xu of Germany. In
2012 Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, she won her first match against
Victoria Montero of Mexico, but lose a match to
Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, she did not advance beyond the group stages. In 2013, she has joined the Lillerød Badminton in Denmark as a coach for the young players.
Achievements
BWF International Challenge/Series
''Women's singles''
''Women's doubles''
:
BWF International Challenge
The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.
...
tournament
:
BWF International Series
The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...
tournament
References
External links
*
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Photo of Anu Nieminen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nieminen, Anu
1977 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Helsinki
Finnish female badminton players
Olympic badminton players of Finland
Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Badminton players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Badminton players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics