Luciana Aymar



Luciana Paula Aymar (born August 10, 1977) is an Argentine field hockey midfielder. She is the only player in history to receive the FIH Player of the Year Award award seven times, and she is considered the best female hockey player of all time.

Aymar is known for her ability to beat opposing players using her dribbling skills, for which she has been compared with Argentine football idol Diego Maradona. For this reason she has received the nicknames "La Maga", "El Diego" and "La Maradona del hockey". ==Career ==

Aymar started playing at age seven for Club Atlético Fisherton, in her native Rosario. She moved to Jockey Club de Rosario six years later. Eventually, she began training with the junior national team, for which she had to travel every day to Buenos Aires. In 1997 she was part of the national team that won the Pan American Games Junior Championship, and a year later she debuted with the senior national team, finishing fourth at the World Cup. She was also the youngest Argentinian to be accepted into the squad, at just 16.

Aymar is part of a generation in Argentine field hockey that has won several international tournaments from the 1999 Pan American Games on, including an Olympic silver medal, and three Champions Trophies. Nicknamed La Maga ("The Magician"), her outstanding performances have driven her to be chosen as the FIH player of the year seven times. She carried the flag for her country at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Beyond her athletic life Luciana launched a modelling career.

Aymar took Argentina to win the World Cup in her hometown Rosario in a brand new stadium.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics Luciana became the second Argentinian to achieve 4 medals, the other being Carlos Mauricio Espínola. ==Awards and honours == ===Club ===

===International ===
 * Rot-Weiss Köln
 * European Club Championship: 1998

===Individual<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ===
 * 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), Silver Medal (2002, 2007, 2011), Bronze Medal (2004)
 * World Cup: Gold Medal (2002, 2010), Bronze Medal (2006)


 * Champions Trophy's Player of the Tournament: 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012
 * World Hockey Player of the Year (7): 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
 * World Cup Player of the Tournament: 2002, 2010