Luca Ekler

Started: She took up athletics in 2011 in Szombathely, Hungary. She got involved in Para athletics in 2017. (paralympic.org, 12 May 2023; Athlete, 26 Aug 2021; tokyo2020.org, 22 Oct 2020) Reason: She played tennis when she was younger but had to quit the sport after she had a stroke at age 10. She then tried a number of sports before discovering Para athletics while watching television during the 2017 World Championships in London, England. "My tennis career went well, and I loved the sport but I had to quit. I wanted to find another sport that fit me. I tried football, volleyball, and also gymnastics, but I felt like I didn't fit in. I didn't know there were Para sports. I saw the [2017] World Championships on TV and watched the Hungarian Biacsi sisters [Bernadett and Ilona] compete. This is when I first thought that I could compete with them." (paralympic.org, 12 May 2023, 17 Oct 2020; tokyo2020.org, 22 Oct 2020; halmay.hu, 22 Sep 2020; vaol.hu, 29 Aug 2018) Ambition: To successfully defend her gold medal in the T38 long jump at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and to finish on the podium in the T38 400m and T38 100m events at the Games. (paralympic.org, 12 May 2023) Awards: She was nominated for the 2024 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award. (tf.hu, 27 Feb 2024) She was named the 2023 Female Para Athlete of the Year at the M4 Sport Athlete of the Year Gala in Hungary. She also won the award in 2019. (Instagram profile, 09 Jan 2024; tf.hu, 21 Jan 2020) In 2022 she received the Hungarian Order of Merit in recognition of her gold medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (paralympic.org, 12 May 2023; ugytudjuk.hu, 11 Mar 2022) Additional Info: UNIVERSITY COURSE She and a friend have made a Para athletics course available to students at the Hungarian University of Sports Science in Budapest, Hungary. The aim of the course, which began running in September 2022, is to improve understanding of how to train athletes with an impairment. "I want to go for it because it's important for me to train coaches and people in sports to understand Para athletics. People here need to find a different way of thinking. They don't have many opportunities to learn about Para sport and Para athletics, so I will give that to them. That's my inspiration because when I was younger, I didn't really know a thing about Para sport." (tf.hu, 27 Feb 2024, 19 Apr 2023; paralympic.org, 12 May 2023) FURTHER EDUCATION Between 2020 and 2022 she studied for a master's degree in athletics coaching at the Hungarian University of Sports Science in Budapest, Hungary. (LinkedIn profile, 05 Sep 2023; tf.hu, 19 Apr 2023; paralympic.org, 17 Oct 2020)

Sporting Relatives: Her brothers Bendegiz, Zsombor, and Botond have competed in water polo. Bendegiz was part of the Hungarian team that won bronze at the 2018 World Youth Championships in Szombathely, Hungary, while Zsombor claimed gold at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Otopeni, Romania. (SportsDeskOnline, 19 Oct 2023; paralympic.org, 12 May 2023; vaol.hu, 29 Aug 2018; total-waterpolo.com, 10 Aug 2018)