Yuri Viktorovich Stjopkin

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Yuri Wiktorowitsch Stjopkin ( Russian Юрий Викторович Стёпкин ; born October 15, 1971 in Kursk ) is a former Russian judoka who competed in the light heavyweight division, in the weight class up to 95 kilograms (until 1997) or up to 100 kilograms (from 1998). He won an Olympic bronze medal in 2000.

Career

The 1.93 m tall Stjopkin was runner-up at the 1994 student world championships in Münster. In 1995 he won the Universiade in Fukuoka. At the end of the year he won his first Russian national championship. From 1997 to 1999, as well as 2001 and 2002, five more titles followed. After he had received several medals at European team championships from 1995 to 1997, he won his first individual medal in 1998. At the European Championships in Oviedo in 1998 he lost to the German Daniel Gürschner in the semifinals , and won the battle for a bronze medal against the Czech Peter Jákl . In 1999 Stjopkin won a bronze medal at the Universiade in Palma de Mallorca. At the European Championships in Wroclaw in 2000 , he defeated the Austrian Franz Birkfellner in the semifinals and Daniel Gürschner in the final.

So Stjopkin traveled to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney as the reigning European champion . There he lost his opening match against the French Stéphane Traineau after 2:41 minutes. In the hope round, Stjopkin defeated the Algerian Sami Belgroun , Ato Hand from the United States and the Georgian Iweri Jikurauli prematurely through Ippon. He won the battle for the bronze medal against the Italian Luigi Guido after 3:41 minutes. Yuri Stjopkin was again seventh at the European Championships in 2002. In 1998 he won his first World Cup tournament in Prague and his last World Cup victory in 2003 in Tallinn.

After finishing his active international career in 2005, Stjopkin became a co-commentator on television.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. Match balance at judoinside.com
  2. The information on the fight times comes from the Olympic database SportsReference.