Tuğba Karademir, is a Turkish Canadian former figure skater. She was the flag-bearer for Turkey at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where she placed 21st... (wikipedia)
My parents were very brave. It's been really hard for my father. When you own your own business, and then you have to go to work for someone else, it's not easy.
I was too small to know what was going on - it was unreal to me. I didn't know how difficult it would be.
They said skating would ruin my ballet form. It wasn't hard for me to choose. I'm very creative and in skating I can make up my own stuff.
It's not fun but it's something we have to do to be able to afford the sport.
It's great to be Canadian - anywhere you go, everybody loves you. But the purpose in me going abroad was to train and skate for Turkey.
I hope they don't have to move away from their countries like I did. People shouldn't have to leave their homes to pursue their dreams.