Héctor Rodríguez (Judoka)

Héctor Rodríguez Torres (born August 12, 1951 in Guanajay ) is a former Cuban judoka . In 1976 he was the first Cuban Olympic champion in judo.

The 1.67 m tall Rodríguez competed in the then lowest weight class (lightweight) until 1976. After the reorganization of the weight classes in 1977 he fought in the light weight division, in 1978 he was Cuban champion in this weight class.

Rodríguez won his first two fights at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and then lost to French Jean-Jacques Mounier . In the hope round he was eliminated against the North Korean Kim Yong-ik . At the Judo World Championships in 1973 he was defeated by the Japanese Takao Kawaguchi , in the battle for the bronze medal Rodríguez defeated the French Mounier. In 1975 Rodríguez reached the final at the Pan American Games and received the silver medal after his loss to the Canadian Brad Farrow .

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal Rodríguez won the semifinals against the Hungarian József Tuncsik through Waza-Ari . In the final he met the South Korean Chang Eun-kyung and won a Yuko ranking. In 1979 Rodríguez won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games . In 1980 he took part in the Olympic Games for the third time. At the Olympic tournament in Moscow he lost his first fight against the later Olympic champion Nikolai Soloduchin from the Soviet Union. In the hope round Rodríguez retired against Jaroslav Kříž from Czechoslovakia.

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle III. Mexico City 1968 - Los Angeles 1984. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-328-00741-5 .

Web links

• Héctor Rodríguez in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Héctor Rodríguez on judoinside.com