Anu Nieminen
Anu Kristiina Nieminen (born 16 December 1977; née Weckström) is a Finnish badminton player. Born in Helsinki, Nieminen joined the national team in 1994. She is one of the best badminton players in Finland, having won twelve National Championships, and competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics.
| Anu Nieminen | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Birth name | Anu Kristiina Weckström |
| Country | Finland |
| Born | 16 December 1977 Helsinki, Finland |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) |
| Handedness | Right |
| Women's singles | |
| Highest ranking | 37 (21 January 2010) |
| BWF profile | |
Nieminen first represented Finland at the Olympic level at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She reached the second round before losing to Kanako Yonekura of Japan. In 2004 Olympics, she was defeated by Kaori Mori of Japan in the Round of 32. In 2006, she signed with the Finnish cosmetics company Lumene, along with her husband, professional tennis player Jarkko Nieminen.
Nieminen competed at the 2008 Olympics, she again reached the second round, this time losing to Huaiwen Xu of Germany. In the 2012 Olympics, she won her first match against Victoria Montero of Mexico, but after losing to Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, she did not advance beyond the group stages. In 2013, she joined the Lillerød Badminton in Denmark as a coach for the young players.