Kie Kusakabe

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Kie Kusakabe ( Japanese 日下 部 基 栄 Kusakabe Kie ; born October 11, 1978 in Fukuoka ) is a former Japanese judoka . She won an Olympic bronze medal in 2000.

Athletic career

The 1.60 m tall Kie Kusakabe fought in the light middleweight division until 1997 and, with the reorganization of the weight classes, switched to lightweight, the weight class up to 57 kilograms. In 1996 she was junior world champion in light middleweight. At the 1997 Asian Championships in Manila she won the silver medal behind the South Korean Jung Sung-sook .

In 1998 she won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Bangkok. In 2000 she won the Asian Championships in Osaka. At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, she was defeated in the quarterfinals by the Spaniard Isabel Fernández . With two wins in the round of hope, she reached the battle for bronze against the Chinese Shen Jun , which she won after 44 seconds.

In 2001, Kusakabe won the World Cup tournament in Paris. At the 2001 World Championships in Munich, she lost to Deborah Gravenstijn from the Netherlands in the semifinals . With a victory over the Chinese Xu Yuhua , Kusakabe secured a bronze medal. The following year she reached the final at the Asian Games in Busan in 2002 and was defeated by the North Korean Hong Ok-song . In 2003 Kusakabe won the Asian Championships in Jeju. The following year she won a bronze medal in Almaty. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Kusakabe won her first two fights. In the last sixteen she was defeated by the German Yvonne Bönisch , in the hope round she was eliminated by Isabel Fernández.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Asia Championships 1997 at judoinside.com
  2. ↑ fight record at sportsreference.com
  3. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com
  4. ↑ Asian Games 2002 at judoinside.com
personal data
SURNAME Kusakabe, Kie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese judoka
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Fukuoka