Idalys Ortiz Bocourt (born 27 September 1989) is a Cuban retired

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 competed in the over 78 kg division at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and won a medal on each occasion. She won the silver medal in the women's +78 kg event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

held in Tokyo, Japan. She announced her retirement from active sports after falling in the round of 16 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Career

Ortiz took up judo at age ten and was included in the national team at 15. At the age of 18, she became the youngest Olympic medalist in the heavyweight category, winning a bronze medal in 2008. In 2013 and 2016, she was named Cuban Athlete of the Year.

Beijing Olympics

In her first match at the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, she stood against a big (170 lb) Egyptian judoka Samah Ramadan. Ramadan stayed and waited for an opportunity to use her possibly only technique, which was immobilizing her opponent by lying on top. During the match, Ortiz tried many techniques for

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In judo In judo, an ''ippon'' may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the ...

, but none were successful, except for the last move just a few seconds before the end of the match when Samah Ramadan was already tired. In her second match in Beijing, Ortiz went against Janelle Shepherd from Australia. The match had a good tempo and ended quickly with Ortiz making an ippon (an '' okuri-eri-jime''). In the third match, the semifinals, she went against later Olympic champion and controversial judoka Tong Wen from China. This was a close match full of action and could have gone either way. However, Wen won the match as one of Ortiz's techniques was counted as yuko. Ortiz won the bronze medal in her match against Dorjgotovyn Tserenkhand from Mongolia, winning with a nice ippon ( O-goshi).

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Olympics, Ortiz won the gold medal. She beat Adysângela Moniz with a tsuri-goshi in her first match. She then beat Yelena Ivashchenko before avenging her 2008 defeat by Tong Wen, beating her with a te-guruma. She then beat Mika Sugimoto in the final. She was the first non-Asian winner of the heavyweight category and the first Cuban judo gold medalist in 12 years. At the 2015 Pan American Championships, she beat Vanessa Zambotti in the final, having beaten Nina Cutro-Kelly in the semifinals. It was one of three gold medals for Cuba.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the 2016 Olympics, Ortiz completed her medal collection, winning a silver medal. She beat Kseniya Chibisova with a tawara-gaeshi, then Kim Min-Jeong with a

yoko-shiho-gatame is one of the seven mat holds, Osaekomi-waza, of Kodokan Judo. In grappling terms, it is categorized as a side control hold. Technique description

. In the semifinal she beat Kanae Yamabe with a uki-goshi before losing the final to Émilie Andéol. She finished the season ranked world number one, having won 5 IJF events along with her Olympic silver. She won the bronze medal in the 2017 World Openweight Championships, beating Romane Dicko with a shime-waza. In 2018, she won her first IJF title since 2016. She was also part of the Cuba team that won 5 gold medals at the 2018 Pan American Championships. Ortiz credits her success to hard training, 7 hours a day, and a regime that involves training against men because of the few women in her weight category.

2024, Flag bearer at París 2024

On 3 July 2024, Ortiz and Greco-Roman wrestler

Mijaín López Mijaín López Núñez (born 20 August 1982) is a Cuban retired Greco-Roman wrestler. Widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, López is a five-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time World Champion, for a total of 10 worl ...

were named as the Cuban flag bearers for the París 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Idalys 1989 births Living people Cuban female judoka Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2011 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2015 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2019 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Cuba Olympic silver medalists for Cuba Olympic bronze medalists for Cuba Olympic judoka for Cuba Olympic medalists in judo Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Pan American Games gold medalists in judo Sportspeople from Pinar del Río Province Summer World University Games medalists in judo World judo champions FISU World University Games gold medalists for Cuba FISU World University Games silver medalists for Cuba Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games 20th-century Cuban women 21st-century Cuban sportswomen