Yuan Hua

Yuan Hua ( Chinese  袁 华 ; born April 16, 1974 in Liaoyang ) is a former Chinese judoka who was 2000 Olympic champion in the weight class over 78 kilograms.

Career

Yuan Hua won the 1992 Junior World Championships. She had her international breakthrough in the adult class in November 1996, when she won two titles at the Asian Championships, the heavyweight and the open class. At the 1997 World Championships in Paris, Yuan Hua competed in the open class, while Sun Fuming fought in the heavyweight division . After Yuan Hua had lost in the semifinals to Cuban Daima Beltrán , she won the battle for a bronze medal against French Celine Lebrun . In August 1998 she won both heavyweight and open class at the World Military Championships. Four months later she won the Asian heavyweight games. At the Universiade 1999, Yuan Hua appeared again in both weight classes, she won the heavyweight division and won a bronze medal in the open class. At the 1999 World Championships in Birmingham she reached the final with a victory over the French Christine Cicot and received the silver medal after her defeat against the Polish Beata Maksymow .

At the Chinese Championships in April 2000, Yuan Hua and Sun Fuming faced each other twice in the finals. Yuan won the heavyweight division and Sun won the open class. Since no competition was held in the open class at the Olympic Games, only one of the two almost equally old opponents could compete in the Olympic Games. In 1996 and 2004 it was Sun Fuming, and the Chinese federation Yuan Hua nominated for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She won her first three fights in Sydney early. In the final against Daima Beltrán she had to go full time and won by referee decision. In May 2001, Yuan Hua won the heavyweight category at the East Asian Games. Two months later at the World Championships in Munich , she won the heavyweight final over Shidori Mintani from Japan. Just a month later, she also won the heavyweight class at the Universiade in Beijing. After the successful 2001 season, she ended her international career. In 2007 she tried again to make a comeback and won two medals at the Asian Championships: bronze in the heavyweight division and gold in the open class. She did not qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Web links

• Yuan Hua in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Results at judoinside.com
• Match balance at judoinside.com

Footnotes

1. ↑ While the representation of the competitions outside the Olympic Games follow the judo database judoinside.com, the duration of the fight at the Olympic Games can be found in the Olympic database SportsReference.