Luciana Aymar

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Luciana Aymar
Aymar in 2010
Personal information
Full name Luciana Paula Aymar
Born (1977-08-10) 10 August 1977 (age 46)
Rosario, Argentina
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Youth career
Fisherton
Jockey Club de Rosario
Senior career
Years Team
1998 Rot-Weiss Köln
1999 Real Club de Polo
2000–2007 Quilmes
2008–2011 GEBA
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1998 Argentina U21
1998–2014 Argentina 376 (162)
Medal record

Luciana Paula Aymar (Spanish pronunciation: [luˈsjana ajˈmaɾ]; born 10 August 1977) is an Argentine retired 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] In 2010 she was granted the Platinum Konex Award as the best Hockey player of the last decade in Argentina.[6]

Luciana is known for her ability to beat opposing players using her pace and dribbling skills, drawing comparisons with Argentine 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.

Personal life[edit]

Aymar was born to René Aymar and Nilda Vicente de Aymar. She has 3 siblings in Her family: Cintia Aymar, Lucas Aymar and Fernando Aymar. Since 2017, Aymar had been in a relationship with former Chilean professional tennis player Fernando González,[7] and they have two children: a son, Félix, born in 2019,[8] and a daughter, Lupe, born in 2021.[9]

Career[edit]

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 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, the first being sportsman Carlos Espínola.[10]

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[edit]

International[edit]

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

Club[edit]

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[edit]

References[edit]

  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. ^ "Luciana Aymar - Premio Konex de Platino 2010" (in Spanish). 2010-11-11. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  7. ^ "Fernando González y Luciana Aymar confirmaron su romance en revista". cooperativa.cl (in Spanish). Radio Cooperativa. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Nació Félix, el hijo de Luciana Aymar y Fernando González". Infobae (in Spanish). 4 January 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Luciana Aymar anuncia el nacimiento de su segundo hijo con Fernando González". El Mercurio (in Spanish). 11 September 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  10. ^ es:Carlos Mauricio Espínola

External links[edit]

Awards
Preceded by FIH Player of the Year
2001
Succeeded by
Preceded by FIH Player of the Year
2004–2005
Succeeded by
Preceded by FIH Player of the Year
2007–2010
Succeeded by
Preceded by FIH Player of the Year
2013
Succeeded by
Preceded by Olimpia de Oro
2010
Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Argentina
London 2012
Succeeded by