Züleyha Yıldız

Züleyha Tan Yıldız, born in 1968, went down in sports history as one of the important taekwondo players trained in Turkey. The athlete, who made a name for himself in the 1980s, attracted attention especially with his successes in the European and world championships.

He reached the pinnacle of his career by winning the gold medal at the 1986 European Championship held in Seefeld, Austria. Yıldız, who was nominated for the Athlete of the Year Award at the Milliyet Sports Awards in the same year, was satisfied with the bronze medal at the 1987 World Championship held in Barcelona a year later.

The athlete, who proved himself in the international arena with this performance, retained his title as champion in the European Championship held in Ankara in 1988.

Yıldız made history as the first Turkish female taekwondo athlete to represent her country at the 1988 Seoul Games, where taekwondo was included in the Olympic program for the first time. The athlete, who reached the final in the featherweight category, took second place, losing to her Danish opponent. Yıldız, who ranked fourth in Milliyet's athlete of the year voting in the same year, reinforced this success with the support from his family.

Züleyha Yıldız, who belongs to a taekwondo family, married former taekwondo player Fahrettin Yıldız in 1989. While his wife has been coaching national teams for many years, their son Muhammed Emin Yıldız won a silver medal at the 2018 European Taekwondo Championship. At the same time, her sister Arzu Tan Sayan won the world championship, while her husband Yavuz Sayan also won the European championship. These achievements revealed the Yıldız family's deep roots in taekwondo.