Beatriz Rodrigues de Souza (; born 20 May 1998) is a Brazilian

judoka is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

. She represented Brazil at the 2024 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal in the Women's +78 kg competition.

Early life

Souza was born on 20 May 1998 in Itariri,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, daughter of the military veteran and ex-judoka Poscedonio José de Souza Neto. She was raised in the coastal town of

Peruíbe Peruíbe is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 69,001 (2020 est.) in an area of . Peruíbe is located to the southwest of the city of São Paulo and wes ...

Career

Her first medal was at the 2017 Pan American Championships, held in Panama City. Souza won a medal at the

2019 World Judo Championships The 2019 World Judo Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Schedule ''All times are local (Japan Standard Time, UTC+9).'' Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Mixed events Prize m ...

. Souza won the silver medal in her event at the

2022 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv The 2022 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv was held in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 17 to 19 February 2022. Event videos The event aired freely on the IJF YouTube channel. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Prize money The sums wr ...

held in Tel Aviv, Israel. In the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, she defeated

Raz Hershko Raz Hershko (; born 19 June 1998; nicknamed Hershkules) is an Israeli Olympic silver medalist and European champion judoka. She was the 2015 European Cadet Champion, the 2017 European U23 Championships silver medalist, and won a bronze medal i ...

, winning

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

's first gold medal in the Women's over 78 kg category, with Sarah Menezes as her coach, becoming the first ever woman athlete from the

Esporte Clube Pinheiros The Esporte Clube Pinheiros, founded on 7 September 1899, by German immigrants, under the name Sport Club Germânia (Sport Club Germany), is a multi-sports and social club located in the Brazilian metropolis São Paulo. The full name of the cl ...

club to be crowned champion in all Olympic Games history.

References

External links

* * * * 1998 births Living people Brazilian female judoka Judoka at the 2019 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2023 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists in judo Pan American Games bronze medalists for Brazil Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games 21st-century Brazilian sportswomen People from Peruíbe Martial artists from São Paulo (state) Olympic judoka for Brazil Judoka at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in judo Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Esporte Clube Pinheiros judoka {{Brazil-judo-bio-stub