Luciana Aymar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
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	Apps	(Gls)
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 Women's field hockey Representing  Argentina Olympic Games Silver 2000 Sydney Team Silver 2012 London Team Bronze 2004 Athens Team Bronze 2008 Beijing Team World Cup Gold 2002 Perth Team Gold 2010 Rosario Team Bronze 2006 Madrid Team Bronze 2014 The Hague Team Champions Trophy Gold 2001 Amstelveen Team Gold 2008 Mönchengladbach Team Gold 2009 Sydney Team Gold 2010 Nottingham Team Gold 2012 Rosario Team Gold 2014 Mendoza Team Silver 2002 Macau Team Silver 2007 Quilmes Team Silver 2011 Amstelveen Team Bronze 2004 Rosario Team Pan American Games Gold 1999 Winnipeg Team Gold 2003 Santo Domingo Team Gold 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team Silver 2011 Guadalajara Team Pan American Cup Gold 2001 Kingston Team Gold 2004 Bridgetown Team Gold 2013 Mendoza Team Junior World Cup Bronze 1997 Seongnam Team

Luciana Paula Aymar (Spanish pronunciation: [luˈsjana ajˈmaɾ]; born 10 August 1977) is an Argentine retired field hockey player.

She is the only player in history to receive the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times, and she is considered as the best female hockey player of all time. In 2010 she was granted the Platinum Konex Award as the best Hockey player of the last decade in Argentina.

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

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, and they have two children: a son, Félix, born in 2019, and a daughter, Lupe, born in 2021.

Career

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.

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

International

Luciana Aymar and Soledad Garcia raise the trophy after beating the Netherlands in the 2010 Hockey World Cup at Rosario.

Argentina Junior

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

Argentina

• Pan American Games: Gold Medal (1999, 2003, 2007), Silver Medal (2011)
• Summer Olympics: Silver Medal (2000, 2012), Bronze Medal (2004, 2008).
• Champions Trophy: Gold Medal (2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014), Silver Medal (2002, 2007, 2011), Bronze Medal (2004)
• World Cup: Gold Medal (2002, 2010), Bronze Medal (2006, 2014)

Club

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

• Champions Trophy's Player of the Tournament: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014
• FIH Player of the Year: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013
• World Cup's Player of the Tournament: 2002, 2010

See also

In Spanish: Luciana Aymar para niños