Kübra Dağlı (born 17 February 1996) is a Turkish

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, social media influencer and two-time world champion. Dağlı, alongside her partner Emirhan Muran, won a gold medal in the senior competition at the 10th World Poomsae Championships held in Peru in 2016. In 2018, she won her second gold medal on the world stage by claiming first place in the women's Recognized Poomsae competition at the 2nd World Taekwondo Beach Championships held in

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. Following her world title in 2016, she received extensive media coverage, particularly for her competing in Taekwondo while wearing a

headscarf A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...

. She wrote on social media: "They don't speak of my success, but of my headscarf. I don’t want this. Our success should be discussed." ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950 ...

'' newspaper columnist Asu Maro documented the two sources of criticism Dağlı faced – Muslims who saw Taekwondo itself as improper for women, and secular organizations who wanted her to remove her head covering during competitions. She condemned both groups as holding "sexist ideologies" that are harmful to her and other Muslim female athletes. Headscarves are permitted by Taekwondo's international governing bodies, though Dağlı said she did have to wear a

bandana A kerchief (from the Old French ''couvre-chef'', "cover head"), also known as a bandana or bandanna, is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the Human head, head, face, or neck for protective or decorative purposes. The popularity of ...

instead of a

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

once, in 2013. Her mother and her father, a

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

coach, have been supportive of her athleticism. After trying

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

, she switched to Taekwondo at the age of 13. At first, she was trained by her uncle, a Taekwondo coach. She has been training with her partner Emirhan Muran since 2014. Over the years, Dağlı has been World champion twice and European champion four times. As of 2023, she is a seven-time European and seven-time World medalist. She won her latest medal at the 15th Taekwondo European Poomsae Championships in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in 2021, where she and Emirhan Muran claimed the gold medal in the Pair's Freestyle Poomsae competition.https://europeantaekwondounion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/European-Poomsae-Championship-Day-1-Medalist.pdf

References

Living people Turkish female taekwondo practitioners 1996 births 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Sportspeople from Isparta {{Turkey-taekwondo-bio-stub