Alessandra Giungi

Alessandra Giungi (born May 5, 1966 in Rome ) is a former Italian judoka . She was world champion in 1991 and European champion in 1988 and 1995.

Athletic career

The 1.59 m tall Giungi fought almost consistently in the half-light weight, the weight class up to 52 kilograms. At the European Championships in 1987, she won a bronze medal after losing in the semi-finals to the French Dominique Brun . At the World Championships in 1987, she lost to the Japanese Kaori Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals , but fought her way through to the bronze medal in the hope round . In 1988 Giungi won the final of the European Championships over the Finn Jaana Ronkainen . At the 1988 Olympic Games , competitions in women's judo were offered as a demonstration sport. At the Olympic tournament Giungi won two fights and lost to the Briton Sharon Rendle , Giungi took third place.

At the European Championships in 1989 Giungi lost to Sharon Rendle in the semifinals and Dominique Brun in the battle for bronze, Giungi finished fifth. At the World Championships in Belgrade she reached the final and won silver behind Sharon Rendle. In 1991 Giungi won bronze at the European Championships after losing to French Fabienne Boffin . As in 1989, Giungi reached the final of the 1991 World Championships in Barcelona after defeating Fabienne Boffin, among others. In the final she met Sharon Rendle, this time Giungi won and was world champion. At the European Championships in 1992 Giungi lost to the British Loretta Doyle , in the battle for bronze the Italian won against the German Carmen Schuler . At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona , women's judo competitions were part of the official program for the first time. After two wins at the start, Giungi was defeated by the Japanese Noriko Mizoguchi in the quarterfinals . In the hope round Giungi won two more fights and then lost to the Chinese Li Zhongyun , so that Giungi, as the reigning world champion, only finished fifth.

In 1993 Giungi lost to the French Cécile Nowak in the semifinals of the European Championships , but won the battle for bronze against the Belgian Heidi Goossens . Giungi also reached the semifinals at the Judo World Championships in 1993 . After defeats against Almudena Muñoz and against Cécile Nowak, she finally finished fifth. In 1994 Giungi was defeated in the final of the European Championships by Pole Ewa-Larysa Krause . A year later she won the title by beating Heidi Goossens in the final. At the European Championships in 1996, she defeated Ewa-Larysa Krause in the semifinals, but lost to Sharon Rendle in the final. In her last major competition at the 1996 Olympic Games , Giungi lost her first fight against Hyun Sook-hee from South Korea. In the round of hope she was eliminated against the Argentinean Carolina Mariani .

Italian championship title

• Half light weight: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994
• Lightweight: 1989

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. Chronicle IV. Seoul 1988 - Atlanta 1996. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-328-00830-6 .

Web links

• Alessandra Giungi at JudoInside.com
• Alessandra Giungi in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )