Full name Heidy Pinto Sport Taekwondo Nationality Guatemala Event(s) 67 kg | Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Name Heidy Juarez Weight 67 kg (148 lb) | |
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Born 14 May 1977 (age 46) ( 1977-05-14 ) Guatemala City, Guatemala | ||
Academia heidy juarez taekwondo center
Heidy Marleny Juárez Guzmán (born May 14, 1977 in Los Angeles City) is a Guatemalan taekwondo practitioner, who competed in the women's welterweight category. She picked up a total of eight medals in her career, including a silver from the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a bronze from the 1995 World Taekwondo Championships in Manila, Philippines, and finished fourth in the 67-kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics, narrowly missing a chance to become Guatemala's first ever Olympic medalist in history.
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Juarez qualified for the Guatemalan squad in the women's welterweight class (67 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by placing second behind Puerto Rico's Ineabelle Díaz and granting a berth from the Pan American Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Querétaro, Mexico. She opened her match with a superb 7–0 victory over Australia's Caroline Bartasek, before dropping a 4–6 decision to the local favorite Elisavet Mystakidou of Greece by the powerful commotion of the home crowd in the quarterfinals. In the repechage rounds, Juarez came strong from her premature exit to edge New Zealand's Verina Wihongi 4–1, and then yielded her revenge over Puerto Rican fighter Ineabelle Díaz for a 5–2 victory to mount a chance for Guatemala's first ever Olympic medal, but she failed to salvage it in a 2–5 defeat to South Korea's Hwang Kyung-seon.
At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Juarez improved her feat from a fourth-place Olympic finish by picking up a silver medal in the women's 67-kg division, losing the final 2–8 to Canada's Karine Sergerie.