Full name Sonya Chervonsky Weight 48 kg (106 lb) Nationality Australia Sport Judo | Residence Sydney, Australia Name Sonya Chervonsky Height 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) | |
Born 15 June 1983 (age 40) ( 1983-06-15 ) Moscow, Russian SFSR,
Soviet Union | ||
Sonya Chervonsky (born June 15, 1983 in Moscow, Russian SFSR) is an Australian judoka, who competed in the women's extra-lightweight category. Holding a dual citizenship to compete internationally, Chervonsky captured two Australian titles in her own division, picked up a total of eighteen medals in her career, including two golds from the Oceania Championships, and represented her naturalized nation Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Before her retirement from the sport came in 2012, Chervonsky also became a member of the University of New South Wales' judo squad under head coach and sensei Warren Rosser.
Chervonsky qualified for the Australian squad, as a 21-year-old, in the women's extra-lightweight class (48 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by topping the field of judoka and receiving a berth from the Oceania Championships in Noumea, New Caledonia. She lost her opening match to French judoka and eventual silver medalist Frédérique Jossinet, who successfully scored a waza-ari awasete ippon and clutched her on the tatami with a kata gatame (shoulder hold) at one minute and thirty-four seconds. In the repechage, Chervonsky gave herself a chance for an Olympic bronze medal, but slipped it away in a defeat to two-time Olympic judoka Tatiana Moskvina of Belarus by an ippon and a tomoe nage (circle throw) within a minute into their first playoff of the draft.
Chervonsky sought her bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but failed to forge a slot to the Australian team upon losing the final to Kristie-Anne Ryder in the 52-kg division at the Oceania Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand. Following her retirement from judo in 2012, Chervonsky currently works as a mentor and public speaker and has been selected as a "big sister" for the Life Changing Experiences Foundation (LCEF), an organization that aims to help hundreds of young women facing devastating issues occurred in the contemporary society.