Suvi Mikkonen (born 11 July 1988, in SaariSuvi Mikkonen
(in Finnish)) is a Finnish

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

practitioner. Mikkonen is a Finnish national champion, three times the Nordic champion (2008, 2010, 2011), and won the European University Championship in 2009. She has competed in the 2009 and 2011 World Championships and the 2008 European Championships. Currently, she is a member of the Finnish National Team and, when in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, trains in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

. She lives permanently in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and trains with her coach and partner, Jesus Ramal, the head Olympic coach for the Finnish National Team. Mikkonen started Taekwondo training at a gym opened by

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts champions ...

at the age of four in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where she moved with her family. Mikkonen moved to

as a teenager and is studying Sport Sciences at the University of Madrid. She is fluent in Finnish, Spanish, and English. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the under 57 kg defeating the Senegalese Bineta Diedhiou in the first round, but was defeated by eventual silver medalist Hou Yuzhuo of China in the quarterfinals. After being defeated by Hou Yuzhuo, she entered the Repechage and defeated Diana Lopez of the US. Eventually, she got 5th place due to being defeated by Tseng Li-cheng of Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal matches. She qualified for the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

. In Rio, she beat Julia Vasconcelos Dos Santos before losing to

Nikita Glasnovic Nikita may refer to: * Nikita (given name) * Nikita, Crimea, a town in Crimea * Nikita the Tanner, a character in East Slavic folklore Film and television *'' Little Nikita'', a 1988 film * ''La Femme Nikita'' (film), also known as ''Nikita'', ...

References

Finnish female taekwondo practitioners 1988 births Living people Olympic taekwondo practitioners of Finland Taekwondo practitioners at the 2012 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Taekwondo practitioners at the 2015 European Games European Games competitors for Finland European Taekwondo Championships medalists {{Finland-taekwondo-bio-stub