Ela Aydin Konstantinidis (born 12 January 1999, née Aydin) is a German taekwondo athlete. Her greatest achievements are a bronze medal at the 2022 Grand Prix in Paris and all together six medals at European Championships.
Career Junior Ela Aydin began practicing taekwondo at the age of five and participated in her first competition at age six. When she was 14, she was selected to represent the German national team at her first U15 European Championship in Bucharest in 2013, where she won a bronze medal.
In the years following, Aydin took part in several competitions such as the taekwondo Youth World Championships and several European Championships. In 2016, she tore a cruciate ligament in her knee and due to undergoing surgery had to take a break from competing.
Senior In 2017, Aydin won a silver medal at the U21 European Championships in Sofia. In 2018, she participated in the European Championships in Kazan but lost in the prelims against the eventual European Champion Kristina Tomić from Croatia. She also competed in the Grand Prix series of 2018.
The following year, Aydin won a bronze medal at the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan and a silver medal at the Extra European Championships in Bari. In both competitions, she participated in the Olympic weight class of 49 kilograms. She also competed in the 2019 World Championships in Manchester, where she finished in ninth place, as well as the 2019 European U21 Championships and two Grand Prix competitions.
In early 2021, Aydin won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Sofia. A few months later, she narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Olympics Games, losing to Israeli fighter Avishag Semberg in the semifinals of the tournament. Qualifying for the final would have meant being allowed to participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
In September 2022, Ela Aydin won a bronze medal at the Paris Grand Prix - she is the first woman of the German national team to have won a medal at a Grand Prix competition. She also won a bronze medal at the 2022 European Championships in Manchester. She took part in the 2023 World Championships in Baku. She won her opening match but lost to Dunya Abutaleb from Saudi Arabia in her second match (round of 16).
In March 2024, Aydin participated in the European qualification tournament for the Summer Olympics in Paris, where she won the round of 16 against Zemfira Hasanzade (Azerbaijan) 2:0, but lost to Ilenia Matonti from Italy in the quarter-finals. She therefore did not qualify a quota place for the 49 kg weight category at the Olympic Games, as this would have required her to reach the final. In April 2024, Aydin underwent another cruciate ligament and meniscus surgery.
Personal life
In 2017, Aydin graduated from school with a General Certificate of Secondary Education. In the same year, she joined the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr (German: Sportfördergruppe der Bundeswehr) and completed her basic training by the start of 2018. She has been a Soldier-Athlete (German: Sportsoldat) ever since.
Competitive history +YearEventLocationG-RankPlace2026Bulgaria Open Sofia G-23rdAustrian Open InnsbruckG-12ndGerman Championships Nuremberg -3rd2025Bosnia and Herzegovina Open SarajevoG-13rdCroatia Open ZagrebG-11stDracula Open Bucharest G-11stRiga Open Riga G-12ndSwiss Open St. Gallen G-13rd2024Slovenia Open LjubljanaG-13rdGerman Championships Ochsenhausen -1st2023Croatia Open ZagrebG-13rdPolish Open WarsawG-13rdTallinn Open TallinnG-11stEuropean Clubs Championships SofiaG-11stUS Open Las VegasG-23rdGerman Championships Nuremberg -2nd2022Dutch Open EindhovenG-11stGrand Prix ParisG-63rdEuropean Clubs Championships TallinnG-22ndEuropean Championships ManchesterG-43rdSpanish Open La NuciaG-2 3rdTurkish Open AntalyaG-2 1stFujairah Open FujairahG-2 1stGerman Championships Weißenburg -1st2021French Open ParisG-13rdMontenegro Open PodgoricaG-13rdAlbania Open TiranaG-13rdWT Presidents Cup - Europe IstanbulG-12ndTallinn Open TallinnG-11stBeirut Open BeirutG-22ndSpanish Open AlicanteG-13rdEuropean Championships SofiaG-43rdGerman Championships Dortmund -1st2020Sofia Open SofiaG-13rdGerman Open HamburgG-22ndHelsingborg Open HelsingborgG-13rdGerman Championships Lünen -1st2019Extra European Championships BariG-42ndMilitary World Games WuhanG-23rdAustrian Open InnsbruckG-13rdWT Presidents Cup - Africa AgadirG-13rdDutch Open NijmegenG-13rdUS Open Las VegasG-13rdSlovenia Open MariborG-11stGerman Championships Nuremberg -2nd2018Luxembourg Open LuxembourgG-13rdMulti European Games PlodivG-1 1stAustrian Open InnsbruckG-1 1st2017Croatia Open ZagrebG-4 2ndSerbia Open BelgradeG-13rdRiga Open RigaG-12ndPolish Open WarsawG-11st Austrian Open InnsbruckG-12ndEuropean Championships (U21) SofiaG-42nd2014German Championships Gummersbach -2nd2013European Championships (cadets) BucharestG-43rd
References
External links
Personal Website