Ulla Werbrouck

Ulla Werbrouck (born January 24, 1972 in Izegem ) is a Belgian judoka and politician . She is seven times European champion and was Olympic champion in 1996.

Werbrouck was one of the strongest judoka in the world from the mid-1990s. She celebrated her first international success in 1994 with the European title in the category up to 72 kilograms. She was able to successfully defend the title three times ( 1995 , 1996 , 1997 ). After the re-classification of the weight classes, she became European champion three times in the category up to 70 kilograms ( 1998 , 1999 , 2001 ).

She crowned her successful career at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta , where she became an Olympic light heavyweight champion. For this achievement she was voted Sportswoman of the Year in her home country in 1996 .

In 2007 she was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Deputies . She competed for the LDD , which was founded and run by her former judo trainer Jean-Marie Dedecker . In 2009 she moved to the Flemish Parliament .

Web links

• Ulla Werbrouck in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )