Masae Ueno

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Masae Ueno ( Japanese 上 野 雅 恵 Ueno Masae ; born January 17, 1979 in Asahikawa ) is a former Japanese judoka and two-time Olympic champion. She competed in the weight class up to 70 kilograms, the middleweight.

After a fifth place at the 1999 World Championships in Birmingham, Ueno achieved her first major international success in 2000 with a victory at the Asian Championships in Osaka; at the 2000 Olympic Games she finished ninth. At the 2001 World Championships in Munich, she won the final against British Kate Howey . In 2002 she received the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Busan. In 2003 in Osaka , she won her second world title by beating the Cuban Regla Leyén in the final . She won her next big title in May 2004 at the Asian Championships in Almaty. Three months later she won the final of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens against Edith Bosch from the Netherlands .

After a year without an international title, Masae Ueno won the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. In 2008 she won her third title after 2000 and 2004 at the Asian Championships in Jeju. At the end of her career, she won her second Olympic gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 against the Cuban Anaysi Hernández .

Masao Ueno's younger sister Yoshie Ueno was the 2009 light middleweight world champion.

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