Elif Jale Yeşilırmak, née Yulia Guramievna Rekvava (russian: Юлия Гурамиевна Реквава), (born July 30, 1986 in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

) is a

n- Turkish female

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

. She is the first woman wrestler to represent

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

at the Olympics. She is a member of Trakya Birlikspor. Born on July 30, 1986 in

, Yulia Rekvava won the bronze medal for her native country in the 59 kg division at the

2009 European Wrestling Championships The 2009 FILA European Wrestling Championships were held in Vilnius, Lithuania. The event took place from 31 March to 5 April 2009. Bids Five countries showed interest in hosting the tournament, but only two were shortlisted: Vilnius (Lithuania) ...

held in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuania. She later moved from Sweden to Turkey, and was naturalized shortly before the

2011 World Wrestling Championships The 2011 World Wrestling Championships was held at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey. The event took place between September 12 and September 18, 2011. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Wome ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

converting to Islam and taking the Turkish name Elif Jale Yeşilırmak. Yeşilırmak became silver medalist in the 67 kg division at the Golden Grand Prix held in February 2012 at Klippan, Sweden. She won the bronze medal in the 63 kg division at the

2012 European Wrestling Championships The 2012 European Wrestling Championships were held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 8 March to 11 March 2012.https://web.archive.org/web/20120311105538/http://www.fila-official.com/sites/ultimate2/index.php Medal table Team ranking Medal summary ...

held in Belgrade,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. She became so the second woman wrestler from Turkey to win a medal at the European level after twelve years. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics after winning her matches with rivals from India, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and France in the 65 kg division at the World Qualification Tournament held in Taiyuan, China. She won the gold medal in the 67 kg division at the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games ( tr, 2013 Akdeniz Oyunları), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games ( tr, XVII Akdeniz Oyunları) and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 i ...

held in Mersin, Turkey. In March 2021, she competed at the European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary hoping to qualify for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yesilirmak, Elif Jale 1986 births Living people Russian female sport wrestlers Russian emigrants to Turkey Naturalized citizens of Turkey Converts to Islam Turkish female sport wrestlers Turkish sportswomen Turkish people of Russian descent Olympic wrestlers of Turkey Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Smolensk European Games bronze medalists for Turkey European Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Competitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century Russian women 21st-century Turkish women

See also

References

External links