Legna Verdecia

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Legna Verdecia Rodríguez (born October 29, 1972 in Manzanillo ) is a former Cuban judoka . She was world champion in 1993 and Olympic champion in 2000.

Athletic career

In 1988 she won the weight class under 45 kg at the Pan American Championships. Verdecia then competed until 1991 mostly in the super light weight up to 48 kg. At the World Judo Championships in Belgrade in 1989, she lost to the French Cécile Nowak in the battle for bronze . In 1990 Verdecia was Junior World Champion and won the Pan American Championships. At the Judo World Championships in Barcelona in 1991 she was subject to the Japanese Ryōko Tamura early on , with four wins in the round of hope, Verdecia fought her way to the bronze medal. Two weeks after the World Championships, she won the Pan American Games in front of a home crowd in Havana .

From 1992, the 1.54 m tall Legna Verdecia competed in a half-light weight of up to 52 kg. In 1992 Verdecia finished third in the Pan American Championships. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​women's judo competitions were on the program for the first time. Verdecia was eliminated after their first fight. In the following year she defeated the Spanish Olympic champion from 1992 Almudena Muñoz in the final of the Judo World Championships in Hamilton in 1993 . In 1994 she finished third in the Pan American Championships. In 1995 she defeated the Argentinean Carolina Mariani in the final of the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata . In August 1995 she took third place at the Universiade. She also came third at the 1995 World Judo Championships in Chiba: After losing to Carolina Mariani in the semifinals, she won the battle for bronze against Almudena Muñoz. In 1996 Verdecia lost to the South Korean Hyun Sook-hee in the semi-finals of the 1996 Olympic Games , after a victory over Almudena Muñoz, the Cuban received the Olympic bronze medal. Three months after the Olympics, she lost to Carolina Mariani at the Pan American Championships.

In early 1997, the Cubans won the team world championships. In August Verdecia won the Pan American Championships. At the Judo World Championships in 1997 , she finished seventh. In 1998 the Cubans won again the World Team Championships and Verdecia won the Pan American Championships. In 1999 she won the Universiade in Palma de Mallorca. A month later she won the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg for the third time. At the 1999 World Judo Championships in Birmingham, she lost to the Japanese Noriko Narazaki in the final . Narazaki and Verdecia were also in the final of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, after 2:19 minutes the Cuban was Olympic champion. Verdecia won her last international medal at the 2001 Judo World Championships in Munich. After losing to the German Raffaella Imbriani in the quarter-finals , she secured another bronze medal by beating the Japanese Yuki Yokosawa .

Cuban championship title

  • Super light weight: 1989, 1990, 1991
  • Half light weight: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Legna Verdecia. In: EnCaribe. Retrieved June 8, 2018 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ National championships on judoinside.com
personal data
SURNAME Verdecia, Legna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Verdecia Rodríguez, Legna (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban judoka
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Manzanillo , Cuba