Leire Iglesias Armiño (born 7 April 1978 in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, Vizcaya) is a Spanish

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 ...

, who played for the middleweight category. She is a five-time World Cup champion, and a silver medalist at the

2008 European Judo Championships The 2008 European Judo Championships were the nineteenth edition of the European Judo Championships, held in the Altice Arena, in Lisbon, Portugal, from April 11 to April 13, 2008. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Results ov ...

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. She also won two bronze medals for the same division at the

1999 Summer Universiade The 1999 Summer Universiade, also known as the XX Summer Universiade, took place in Palma, Majorca, Palma de Mallorca, Spain from 3 July to 13 July. Venues * Estadi Son Moix — athletics, football (finals), ceremonies * Palau Municipal d'Espor ...

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

, and at the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sy ...

Jeju City Jeju City (; ) is the capital of the Jeju Province in South Korea and the largest city on Jeju Island. The city is served by Jeju International Airport (IATA code CJU). Located on an island off the Korean Peninsula, Jeju has mild, warm weather ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. Iglesias represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics 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 fro ...

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 ...

, where she competed for the women's middleweight class (70 kg). In the preliminaries, she first defeated Brazil's

Mayra Aguiar Mayra Aguiar da Silva (born 3 August 1991) is a Brazilian retired judoka. She was a bronze medallist in three consecutive Olympics, 2012, 2016 and 2020. She is also three-time world champion (2014, 2017 & 2022). She is the first Brazilian woman ...

, and eventually upset world champion

Gévrise Émane Gévrise Émane (born 27 July 1982) is a French judoka. She was the European champion in the women's 63 kg weight class. Emane first gained attention at the 2005 World Judo Championships in Cairo, Egypt where she won the silver medal in t ...

, who was considered a top medal contender in this event. She reached only into the quarterfinal round, where she lost by an automatic

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 ...

to German judoka and Olympic bronze medalist Annett Böhm. Because her opponent advanced further into the semi-finals, Iglesias offered another shot for the bronze medal by defeating Ukraine's

Nataliya Smal Nataliya Nikolayevna Smal (; born 10 March 1983 in Koriukivka Raion, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian judoka and sambist. She competed in the 70 kg event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she lost in the third round to Annett Böhm, and the 2012 Sum ...

and Colombia's Yuri Alvear in the repechage rounds. She finished in fifth place, after losing out the bronze medal match to Dutch judoka and former silver medalist

Edith Bosch Edith Bosch (born 31 May 1980) is a Dutch judoka. Her Olympic debut was at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney where she finished seventh. She won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the middleweight division. She was also European champi ...

, who successfully scored an ippon at three minutes and fourteen seconds.

Notes

References

External links

* *
NBC 2008 Olympics Profile
Spanish female judoka Living people Olympic judoka for Spain Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Bilbao 1978 births Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Summer World University Games medalists in judo Mediterranean Games medalists in judo FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Spain Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade 21st-century Spanish sportswomen {{Spain-judo-bio-stub