Idalys Ortiz Boucurt

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She is undoubtedly the best Pan-American judoka in the heavyweight category these days. She is also one of the few heavyweight judokas who actually practices judo in matches and does not rely on her large size and strong arms.

Idalys won the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In the first match she faced a very large athlete (170 kg) from Egypt, Samah Ramadán. She was not a difficult rival for Idalys because the Egyptian girl did not perform any type of judo. She just stood there and waited for what is probably her only technique, immobilizing and covering the opponent. During the match Ortíz attempted many techniques to achieve ippon, but not all were successful, except in the last few seconds before the end when the Egyptian girl was already tired.

In the second match she faced Janelle Pastor from Australia. The match had good pace and ended very quickly after starting with ippon (Okuri-eri-jime) executed by Ortiz.

The third match (semifinal) was against the Olympic champion and controversial Chinese judoka Tong Wen. This close match was full of action and there was only question who will be happier in end. This final match was full of action and it was only a question of who was happier in the end. Finally, it was the Chinese judoka because one of her techniques was counted as yuko.

Ortiz went to the repechage for the bronze medal against Dorjgotovyn Tserenkhand from Mongolia. Idalys showed shortly after the start that she was the favorite and won with a beautiful ippon (O-goshi). She thus became the youngest Olympic medalist in the heavyweight category. She was only 18 years old.

2007 Pan American Judo Championship First Openweight
2007 World Judo Championship Fifth Openweight
2008 Pan American Judo Championship First Heavyweight (+ 78 kg)
2008 Summer Olympic Games Third Heavyweight (+ 78 kg)
2009 Pan American Judo Championship First Heavyweight (+ 78 kg)
2009 Pan American Judo Championship First Openweight
2009 World Judo Championship Third Heavyweight (+ 78 kg)
2010 Pan American Judo Championship First Heavyweight (+ 78 kg)
2010 Pan American Judo Championship First Openweight