Career
She was the flag-bearer for Turkey at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where she placed 21st. Karademir started skating at the age of 5, with her kindergarten class, right after the first ice rink opened in Turkey in 1990. At eight years old she competed for the first time internationally for Turkey.
Turkey had only one ice rink then, and no professional skating coaches.
She began training with Robert Tebby at the Mariposa School of Skating. At the 2006 European Figure Skating Championships, Karademir placed 13th.
She then went on to become the first figure skater from Turkey to compete in the Olympic Winter games. She was the flag bearer for Turkey during the opening ceremony.
She scored a personal best of 44.2 points in the short program
Combined with her 79.44 points in the free program, she placed 21st overall with a total of 123.64 points. At the 2006 World Figure Skating Championships, Karademir placed 18th with her highest finish to date at that event. In the long program, she finished 16th, giving her the 18th overall finish.
In June 2006, Tuğba Karademir was transferred by the Kocaeli Kağıtspor.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics she received a total score of 129.54, with 50.74 in the short program and 78.80 in the free skate. In Turkey, Karademir"s father, Tayfun, was a restaurateur and her mother, Sabite, worked in the aerospace industry.
Upon relocating to Barrie, Ontario, Canada, they initially took on menial jobs to pay for Karademir"s training. While in Barrie, Tugba was enrolled at a local public school, Allandale Heights.
She speaks Turkish and English fluently.
