Hatice Kübra İlgün

İlgün won the silver medal in the women’s 57 kg event at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships.^[2] Competing in the 57 kg category, she defeated opponents from Kenya, Latvia, Germany and Portugal to reach the semifinals. There, she beat Sweden’s Nikita Glasnovic 8–0 to advance to the final. In the gold-medal bout against South Korea’s Lee Ah-reum, İlgün trailed 3–0 after the first round and 6–2 in the second, and despite narrowing the gap in the last round, she lost 7–5 and finished as world runner-up.^[3]

In December 2019, İlgün competed in the 57 kg category at the Grand Prix Final held in Moscow, Russia. She passed the first round by defeating her Belgian opponent with a golden point, then beat Germany’s Madeline Folgmann 8–0 to advance to the quarterfinals. There, she defeated fellow Turkish athlete İrem Yaman 13–10, securing both a semifinal berth and qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. After a 25–22 semifinal win against American Anastasija Zolotic, she faced China’s Zongshi Luo in the final and claimed the silver medal following a 9–6 loss.^[4]

İlgün won the silver medal in the women’s 57 kg event at the 2021 European Taekwondo Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria.^[5]

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, İlgün competed in the women’s 57 kg event and won the bronze medal. She defeated Costa Rica’s Nishi Lee Lindo Alvarez in the round of 16, but lost to the United States’ Anastasija Zolotic in the quarterfinals. When Zolotic advanced to the final, İlgün entered the repechage. She beat Morocco’s Nada Laaraj and then faced Kimia Zenoorin Alizadeh of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team in the bronze medal match. After trailing 3–2 in the first round, İlgün won the second round 2–0 and eventually secured an 8–6 victory to claim bronze.^[6]

At the 2022 European Taekwondo Championships in Manchester, İlgün became European champion in the women’s 57 kg category by defeating Poland’s Patrycja Adamkiewicz 15–9 in the final. After receiving a bye in the first round, she beat Finland’s Helmi Harkonen 25–5 by technical superiority, Lithuania’s Klaudija Tvaronaviciute 8–0 in the quarterfinal, and Italy’s Gaida Al Halwani 31–4 in the semifinal.^[7]

She later won the gold medal at the 19th Mediterranean Games held in Oran, Algeria, defeating Egypt’s Ashrakat Darwish 28–7 in the women’s 57 kg final. She had reached the final after beating Cyprus’ Markella Teggeri 22–2 in the quarterfinal and Italy’s Giada Al Halwani 12–3 in the semifinal.^[8]

At the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Konya, İlgün won the silver medal in the women’s 57 kg category after losing to Morocco’s Nada Laaraj in the final.^[9]

İlgün competed in the women’s 57 kg event at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. After receiving a bye in the first round, she defeated Egypt’s Nadine Mahmoud and Spain’s Arlet Ortiz in the following rounds. In the quarterfinals, she beat Poland’s Patrycja Adamkiewicz but lost to Taiwan’s Lo Chia-ling in the semifinal, earning a bronze medal.^[10]

At the 2023 European Games in Kraków, İlgün began directly from the quarterfinals as a seeded athlete. After defeating Lithuania’s Klaudija Tvoranciciute, she lost to Hungary’s Luana Marton in the semifinals, suffering a broken arm during the match. Despite the injury, she competed in the bronze medal match and defeated Spain’s Arlez Ortiz Benito 2–0 to claim bronze.^[11]

At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she lost 2–0 to South Korea’s Yujin Kim in the round of 16.^[12] In the repechage round, she was defeated by Canada’s Skylar Park.^[13]