İrem Yaman (born 4 August 1995) is a Turkish retired

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

athlete. She is a twice world champion, competing in the lightweight division, and an amateur

kickboxer Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

. In 2021, she retired from the taekwondo.

Personal life

Yaman was born in 1995 and began practising taekwondo at the age of eight. She studied Physical Education and Sports at

Hacettepe University Hacettepe University () is a public research university in Ankara, Turkey. It was established on 8 July 1967. It is ranked first among the Turkish universities by University Ranking by Academic Performance in 2021. The university has two main c ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, and was a member of the university's taekwondo team. After earning her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

, she went on to conduct study for a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at Selçuk University's Sports Department in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

. She is married with Turkish national

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player Mert Matić since 2 September 2024.

Sports career

Kickboxing

Yaman won the bronze medal in the +70 kg

semi-contact A contact sport is any sport where physical contact between competitors, or their environment, is an integral part of the game. For example, gridiron football. Contact may come about as the result of intentional or incidental actions by the playe ...

category at the 2012 WAKO World Kickboxing Championships for Cadets and Juniors held in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, Slovakia. The next year, she fought a silver medal at the W.A.K.O. European Kickboxing Championships 2013 for Juniors held in

Krynica-Zdrój Krynica-Zdrój (until 31 December 2001 Krynica, Rusyn language, Rusyn: Криниця ) is a town in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is inhabited by over eleven thousand people. It is the biggest spa town in Pola ...

, Poland.

Taekwondo

Yaman debuted internationally in taekwondo in 2014, and became gold medalist at the European Under 21 Championship in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, Austria in 2014, and continued her success by winning another gold medals at tournaments in 2015 including Turkish Open in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

, Luxor Open in

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

, Egypt, Ukraine Open in

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

and Moldova Open in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

. Aged 18, she became world champion at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships held in

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

, Russia. In 2018, she ranked first in the

World Taekwondo World Taekwondo, formerly the World Taekwondo Federation, is an international federation governing the sport of Taekwondo and Para Taekwondo. WT is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The World Taekwo ...

's 62 kg list with 253.81 points. Turkish world champion Yaman won the gold medal in women's 62 kg category in

2019 World Taekwondo Championships The 2019 World Taekwondo Championships was the 24th edition of the World Taekwondo Championships and was held at the Manchester Arena, in Manchester, Great Britain from 15 to 19 May 2019. This was the first time the UK has held the event. Medal ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England on 19 May 2019. Beating her Brazilian opponent Caroline Santos 21–7 in the final match, Yaman protected her title as the world champion she won in 2015 and became the first Turkish female athlete to win the gold medal twice in

. In December 2019, the Olympic ranking for participation in the 2020 Summer Olympics ended and the countries with athletes in the top 5 of the Olympic ranking won quotas on behalf of the country for participation in the Olympic Games. In Turkey, Yaman and Hatice Kübra İlgün were among the top five. Since each country had only one quota, it was decided that the athlete with the best ranking in the Grand Prix tournament would go, and these athletes were notified one and a half months in advance. Most of Yaman's points were earned in the 62 kg, which is not an Olympic weight class, and all of Hatice Kübra İlgün's points were earned in the 57 kg Olympic weight class. In the statement made by the Turkish Taekwondo Federation, a statement was made by our Federation on 23 October 2019; In the weight classes where we have more than one athlete in the Top 5 in the Olympic ranking, the athlete who is more successful in the Grand Prix Final Competition to be held in Russia in December will represent our country in the Olympic Games regardless of the point status" and this issue was announced 1.5 months before the competition date and notified to both of our athletes. In this regard, no objection was made by our athletes to this decision. When we look at the performances of our two national athletes in Grand Prix competitions that will affect the Olympic quota ranking of 57 kg in 2019; Hatice Kübra İlgün has won medals in all organizations she has participated in, including 4 Grand Prix. Yaman did not participate in 2 of the last 4 Grand Prix due to injury and did not win a medal in the 2 Grand Prix she participated in. Hatice Kübra İlgün won medals in all 4 Grand Prix in this period. Hatice Kübra İlgün defeated Yaman in the 2019 Russia Grand Prix Final, which was announced as a selection by our Federation, and won the silver medal at the end of the tournament. When we analyze the competitions of our two national athletes against each other, Hatice Kübra İlgün has a 2-1 advantage over İrem Yaman. When all this information is analyzed, Hatice Kübra İlgün was determined to represent our country in the 57 kg category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Yaman, who could not accept the defeat in the Moscow Grand Prix Tournament, made unfortunate statements to the press and targeted her teammate. On 18 December 2021, she announced that she retired from taekwondo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yaman, Irem 1995 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Hacettepe University alumni Selçuk University alumni Turkish female taekwondo practitioners Turkish female kickboxers European champions for Turkey Summer World University Games medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in taekwondo FISU World University Games gold medalists for Turkey FISU World University Games silver medalists for Turkey World Taekwondo Championships medalists Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade European Taekwondo Championships medalists 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Islamic Solidarity Games gold medalists for Turkey