Lena Haidynraix
Lena Haidynraix | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Culture and Sport of Gylias | |
| Assumed office 7 September 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Maria Lucía De Angelis y Cortés |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 October 1987 Velouria, Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk |
| Political party | Civic National Party |
| Alma mater | University of Velouria |
Lena Haidynraix (born 4 October 1987) is a Gylian sportsperson and politician. She is Gylias' culture minister in the Maria Lucía De Angelis y Cortés government.
Early life
Lena Haidynraix was born on 4 October 1987 in Velouria. Her parents were Acrean immigrants, originally from Västergötland. Her surname was originally written Heidenreich, but her parents changed it to its Gylic transcription, in what she joked was an attempt to be "more Gylic than the Gylics".
She speaks German as her native language, but learned to write it phonetically using the Gylic alphabet. In one interview, she quipped, "By Acrean standards, I'm either dyslexic or illiterate."
Career
Sport
Lena was passionate about sport in childhood, and began to play basketball aged 9. She joined a youth basketball club, and practiced regularly. She enrolled in the University of Velouria in 2005 to study history, but left without completing a degree.
She played in various under-21 basketball teams before becoming a semi-professional, working various part-time jobs and playing with the city's basketball team, the Velouria Vectors. She became a quite successful and popular player.
Capitalising on her basketball fame, she ran for the presidency in 2010. She was the first athlete candidate since figure skater Katalin Nemes in 1999, and the youngest candidate in a presidential election, aged 24.
Like Katalin, she didn't expect to win, but instead ran on a platform of promoting sports. Her quirky campaign, highlighted by tongue-in-cheek PPBs, proved unexpectedly popular, and she finished fourth in first preference votes.
Politics
Encouraged by her presidential run, Lena decided to enter politics. Her father was a "steadfast, The National Inquirer-reading conservative" and long-serving city councillor affiliated with the National Bloc. She thus joined the Civic National Party, joking that her political beliefs were "genetic".
She was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2012, representing a Velouria circonscription. She won reelection in 2016.
In the legislature, she served in the Permanent Committee on Culture, Arts, and Leisure, where she was a prominent advocate of Lagrangian sports policy. Her proposals included projects to strengthen the National Recreation Organisation and diversify methods of fan-financing sports teams.
She was a high-profile supporter of the popular initiative on sport promotion, which passed with 65,4% of the vote in a 2016 referendum.
She entered the National Bloc primary election in 2019. Despite her youth and athletic fame attracting support, she was eliminated before the final count. However, she befriended the winner, Maria Lucía De Angelis y Cortés.
Minister of Culture and Sport
Maria Lucía led the NB to victory in the 2020 federal election, forming the first conservative government since the Liberation War. She appoined Lena Minister of Culture and Sport.
Public image
Lena has cultivated the image of a typical urbane Gylian conservative, acknowledging The National Inquirer as a significant influence. The contrast between this image and her youth when she entered politics has defined her public profile.
She is known for her preference for sportswear and athleisure clothes, particularly tracksuits.
Private life
Lena is single, and has been involved in several casual relationships and one-night stands.
She is mainly a practitioner of traditional Acrean polytheism.
She remains an active athlete during her political career, and is a basketball player and coach at a local Mişeyáke sports club. She has often referred to her athletic career in a political context, filming PPBs depicting her on a basketball court and using basketball metaphors in speeches to emphasise the importance of teamwork.