Elif Jale Yeşilırmak, née Yulia Guramievna Rekvava (), (born July 30, 1986, in

Smolensk Smolensk 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 cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) is a former

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

female

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

. She is the first woman wrestler to represent

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

at the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

. 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 ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. She later moved from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

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 Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

converting to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

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 Klippan (literally ''the Cliff'') is a locality and the seat of Klippan Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 8,116 inhabitants in 2010. The famous liberal economist Bertil Ohlin Bertil Gotthard Ohlin () (23 April 1899 – 3 August 1979) ...

. 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.Archived copy

held in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. 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 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

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 Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She won the gold medal in the 67 kg division at the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games (), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games () and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 in Mersin, Turkey. Mersin was announced as the host cit ...

held in

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

, 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 officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

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 for 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 Wrestlers at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century Turkish women 21st-century Russian sportswomen