Benjamin Darbelet

Benjamin Darbelet (2008)

Benjamin René Pierre Darbelet (born November 13, 1980 in Dijon ) is a former French judoka . He was Olympic runner-up in 2008 and European champion in 2003.

Athletic career

The 1.70 m tall Darbelet mostly competed in the half-light weight of up to 66 kilograms until 2008;

Darbelet was the 1999 European Junior Champion. In 2001 he won his first French championship title, in the same year he won the Mediterranean Games. In 2002 he was third in the team world championships with the French team. In November he won the French national championships for the second time. At the European Championships in 2003 he won four fights to reach the finals, in the final he defeated the Georgian Dawit Margoschwili . A year later, he received the bronze medal after winning four round of hope fights. At the 2004 Olympic Games , Larbi Benboudaoud started for France in the half -lightweight division. Darbelet dodged the super lightweight and lost in his second fight against the South Korean Choi Min-ho .

In 2005 Darbelet won his third French championship title and finished second at the Tournoi de Paris behind the Japanese Hiroyuki Akimoto . At the European Championships 2005 in Rotterdam Darbelet was defeated in the quarter-finals to the Hungarian Miklós Ungvári , with three wins in the round of hope Darbelet secured the bronze medal. The following year the Frenchman reached the final at the European Championships in Tampere, which was won by the Georgian Sasa Kedelashvili . Benjamin Darbelet also won a medal at the European Championships in 2007, after a semi-final defeat against the Serb Milos Mijalković he won the battle for bronze against Miklós Ungvári. At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 Darbelet reached the final with four wins, where he was defeated by the Japanese defending champion Masato Uchishiba .

In 2010 Darbelet won two French championship titles in lightweight, one in January (made up for 2009) and one in November. At the European Championships in 2011 , he finished fifth. He could no longer qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Web links

• Benjamin Darbelet in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Benjamin Darbelet on judoinside.com