Luciana Paula Aymar (Spanish pronunciation:[luˈsjanaajˈmaɾ]; born 10 August 1977) is an Argentine retired field hockey player.[1]
She is the only player in history to receive theFIH Player of the Year Award eight times,[2] and is considered the best female hockey player of all time.[3][4][5] In 2010 she was granted the PlatinumKonex Award as the best hockey player of the last decade in Argentina.[6]
Luciana is known for her ability to beat opposing players using her pace anddribbling skills, drawing comparisons with ArgentinefootballerDiego Maradona. That is what has earned her the nickname "La Maga" ("The Magician") and "The Maradona of Field Hockey".
Luciana started playing at age seven for Club Atlético Fisherton in her nativeRosario. She moved toJockey Club de Rosario six years later. She gradually began training with the junior national team, for which she had to travel every day toBuenos 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 forQuilmes Atlético Club andGEBA, 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 thePan American Games Junior Championship and the bronze medal at theHockey Junior World Cup and a year later she made her debut for theArgentina senior team, finishing fourth at the1998 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 sixChampions Trophies. She was part of the squad that won the2002 and2010 Hockey World Cup, with the latter being held in her hometown Rosario.[1]
She is the only player in history to receive theFIH Player of the Year Award eight times,[2] and is considered as the best female hockey player of all time.[3][4][5] In 2010 she was granted the PlatinumKonex Award as the best hockey player of the last decade in Argentina.[6]
Luciana is known for her ability to beat opposing players using her pace anddribbling skills, drawing comparisons with ArgentinefootballerDiego Maradona. For this reason she has received the nicknames "La Maga" ("The Magician") and "The Maradona of Field Hockey".
Aymar was born to René Aymar and Nilda Vicente de Aymar. She has three siblings. Since 2017, Aymar had been in a relationship with former Chilean professionaltennis playerFernando González,[7] and they have two children: a son born in 2019,[8] and a daughter born in 2021.[9]
Argentina
