Nationality Mexico Name Maria Espinoza Sport Taekwondo | Weight 69 kg (152 lb) Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | |
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Full name Maria del Rosario Espinoza Born November 27, 1987 (age 36) ( 1987-11-27 ) | ||
Mar a espinoza s unique celebration for beijing 2008 taekwondo gold olympic rewind
María del Rosario Espinoza, (born November 27, 1987 in La Brecha, Sinaloa) is a Mexican taekwondo practitioner.
Contents
- Mar a espinoza s unique celebration for beijing 2008 taekwondo gold olympic rewind
- Unas patadas con Mara Espinoza
- Early life
- Career
- Military
- References
Espinoza is one of the two women from Mexico that has won an Olympic gold medal, the other was Soraya Jiménez.
Unas patadas con María Espinoza!
Early life
Espinoza was born on 27 November 1987 in La Brecha, Sinaloa. Her father is a fisherman and mother a homemaker. She began practicing taekwondo at age five.
Career
Espinoza won her first international competition in taekwondo at the 2003 Pan American Youth Championship in Rio de Janeiro. Later she participated in Open tournaments in Canada, France, and Germany.
She won the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships in Middleweight (–72 kg) category defeating Lee In-Jong and also won the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Heavyweight (+67 kg) winning over Brazilian Natália Falavigna.
She participated in +67 kg weight class in the 2008 Beijing starting with a victory over Tunisian Khaoula Ben Hamza by a score of 4-0, later she beat Swedish Karolina Kedzierska 4-2. In semifinals she qualified to the final defeating British former world champion and eventual Bronze medal winner Sarah Stevenson by 4-1 and culminate winning the gold medal passing over Norwegian Nina Solheim, earning the second gold for Mexico in the Olympics
In 2012, María returned to the Olympics in London. She carried the flag for Mexico during the Parade of Nations and won a bronze medal. In Rio 2016, Espinoza won a silver medal to become the first female Mexican athlete to earn an Olympic medal in three different Olympic Games, and the second Mexican athlete to earn Olympic medals in three consecutive editions. She carried Mexico's flag at the closing ceremony in 2016.
Military
Espinoza is a member of the Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional with the rank of cabo auxiliar de Educación Física y Deportes. Top athletes have joined the military for the stable income and access to the best training facilities. For the 2016 Rio Olympics, 21 of the 125 Mexican athletes were part of the military. Four of the five medals won at those games were won by military personnel (María Espinoza, Germán Sánchez, Ismael Hernández and Lupita González).