Full name Idalys Ortiz Boucurt Event(s) + 78kg Nationality Cuban Name Idalys Ortiz | Country Cuba Role Olympic athlete Sport Judo Weight 95 kg | |
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Born 27 September 1989 (age 34) ( 1989-09-27 ) Pinar del Rio, Cuba Olympic medals Judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's +78 kg, Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's +78 kg Similar People Mika Sugimoto, Tong Wen, Karina Bryant, Lucija Polavder, Maki Tsukada | ||
Idalys Ortiz: My Rio Highlights
Idalys Ortiz Bocourt (born 27 September 1989) is a Cuban judoka. She competed in the over 78 kg division at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics and won a medal on each occasion.
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Career
Ortiz took up judo aged 10 and was included to 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.
Beijing Olympics
In her first match at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she stood against a big (170 lb) Egyptian judoka Samah Ramadan. She stayed and waited for an opportunity to use her, possibly only, technique of immobilizing her opponent by lying on top. During the match, Ortiz tried many techniques for ippon 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).