Estela Rodríguez

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Estela Rodríguez Villanueva (born November 17, 1967 in Palma Soriano ) is a former Cuban judoka . She won two Olympic silver medals and was world champion in 1989.

Athletic career

Rodríguez started in the heavyweight division or in the open class, with her career partially running parallel to the Daima Beltrán fighting in the same weight classes , so that in some championships one competed in the heavyweight division and the other in the open class.

In 1987 Rodríguez won bronze in the heavyweight division and silver in the open class at the Pan American Games . At the World Championships , she finished seventh in the open class. In 1988 Rodríguez lost in the final of the Cuban Championships against Florentina Quintana . In 1989 she finished fifth in the heavyweight division at the 1989 World Championships after losing to Swetlana Gundarenko from the Soviet Union and Nathalie Lupino from France. In the final of the open class, she defeated the British Sharon Lee . In 1990 Rodríguez won the Pan American Championships.

In 1991 Rodríguez won the World Cup in Sofia. At the World Championships in Barcelona she lost in the heavyweight division against Beata Maksymow from Poland and against Monique van der Lee from the Netherlands and finished in fifth place. In the final of the open class she was defeated by the Chinese Zhuang Xiaoyan . At the Pan American Games in 1991 in front of a home crowd in Havana, she won two gold medals, where she won both finals against the Puerto Rican Nilmari Santini . In 1992 Rodríguez won the World Cup in Paris and the Pan American Championships. At the Olympic premiere in the women's judo in Barcelona in 1992 , the heavyweight competition was the first to take place on July 27th, with the easier classes following on the days after. Estella Rodríguez won against Beata Maksymow from Poland, Supatra Yompakdee from Thailand and Nathalie Lupino from France . In the final, the Chinese Zhuang Xiaoyan won after 2:42 minutes through Ippon and was the first judo Olympic champion, Estela Rodríguez received the first Olympic silver medal for a judoka.

In 1993 and 1994 she was successful in international tournaments, but it was not until the 1995 World Championships that she won a medal again in international championships, when she defeated the Japanese Noriko Anno in the fight for a bronze medal in the open class after a loss to Monique van der Lee . In 1996 she finished second behind the German Johanna Hagn at the World Cup in Paris and won in Leonding. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta , she defeated Beata Maksymow in the semifinals, and in the final she lost to the Chinese Sun Fuming .

In 2001 Rodríguez tried a comeback and also won two world cup tournaments. At the 2001 World Championships she was defeated in her second fight in the open class of the Mongolin Erdene-Otschiryn Dolgormaa . After this early departure, the Cuban finally ended her career.

Cuban championship title

  • Heavyweight: 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2001
  • Open class: 1990, 1993

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ National championships on judoinside.com
personal data
SURNAME Rodríguez, Estela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rodríguez Viallnueva, Estela (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban judoka
DATE OF BIRTH 17th November 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Palma Soriano