Lasma Liepa (; born 4 July 1988) is a Latvian-born Turkish sprint kayaker. She is a member of Antalya Gençlik Merkezi GSK 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 ...

. In 2015, she received the Turkish citizenship, and was admitted to the Turkey national canoe team. According to the Turkish Canoe Federation, the main factor for Liepa's transfer to Turkey was supposedly her age seen by the Latvian sports officials not suitable anymore for canoeing. She took part at the

2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 41st edition of the World Championships, were held from 19–23 August 2015 in Milan, Italy. Explanation of events Canoe sprint competitions are broken up into Canadian canoe (C), an open canoe wi ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy, and finished 12th. Upon this result, she earned a quota spot for the women's K-1 200 m event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. She is the first ever women's canoeist to represent Turkey at the Olympics.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liepa, Lasma 1988 births Sportspeople from Riga Kayakers Latvian female canoeists Latvian emigrants to Turkey Naturalized citizens of Turkey Turkish female canoeists Living people Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Turkey Competitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Latvian Academy of Sport Education alumni European Games competitors for Turkey Canoeists at the 2015 European Games Canoeists at the 2019 European Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Turkey