Yuri Alvear Orejuela (born 29 March 1986) is a Colombian judoka, three times World Champion in her division.[1][2]

Yuri Alvear
Personal information
Full nameYuri Alvear Orejuela
NationalityColombian
Born (1986-03-29) 29 March 1986 (age 40)
OccupationJudoka
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Sport
Country Colombia
SportJudo
Weight class–70 kg
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games2nd place, silver medalist(s) (2016)
World Champ.‹See Tfd›Gold medal – World (2009, 2013, 2014)
Pan American Champ.‹See Tfd› (2007, 2009, 2014,
2016, 2017, 2018)
Profile at external databases
IJF63421
JudoInside.com43732
Updated on 23 May 2023

Early life

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Yuri was born in Jamundí which is a suburb of Cali, the third largest city in Colombia. Her father Arnuy is a builder and mother Miryam is a housewife.[citation needed] She also has a brother, Harvy.

In her youth she competed in water polo, volleyball, handball, athletics.[citation needed] When she was 14 she met Ruperto Guaúña, a judo trainer of Litecom school, who was looking for girls for his judo team.[3] This led to Yuri becoming a judoka.[citation needed]

Yuri began judo late, but she already was already in good physical condition from previous sport so she just needed to learn technical aspects of judo.[citation needed]

She is a close friend with other top Colombian judoka Anny Cortez[4] and sparring partner.

Judo career

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Alvear won a bronze medal in the under 57 kg division of the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games.[5]

In 2008, she participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing where she placed 7th. She lost to Anaysi Hernández of Cuba in the main draw and then lost a very close match against Leire Iglesias from Spain in the repechage losing her chance to fight for a medal.[6][7]

In 2009, she won the World Championships in Rotterdam.[8] In the final she gained victory over Anett Mészáros from Hungary and became the third South American judoka to win the title, following Natasha Hernández (of Venezuela) in 1984 and Daniela Krukower (of Argentina) in 2003.[9][10][11]

Two weeks before the 2010 Pan American Judo Championships, after training she felt some pain in her left knee. She went to doctor and he found that she had a torn ACL.[12]

In 2012, she won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London, beating Chen Fei of China.[13] This was the first ever Olympic medal for Colombia in Judo.[14]

In 2016, she returned to the Olympic games in Rio and won a silver medal, becoming the 5th Colombian athlete to win two Olympic medals.

Achievements

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YearTournamentPlaceWeight class
2007Pan American Judo Championships 1stMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2008Pan American Judo Championships 3rdMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2008Olympic Games 7thMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2009Pan American Judo Championships 1stMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2009World Judo Championships 1stMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2010South American Games 1stMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2011Pan American Judo Championships 3rdMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2012Olympic Games 3rdMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2014World Judo Championships 1stMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2015World Judo Championships 3rdMiddleweight (−70 kg)
2016Olympic Games 2ndMiddleweight (−70 kg)

All results referenced in her JudoInside profile.[15]

References

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  1. "Yuri Alvear se bañó de oro en Holanda | Noticias de santander, colombia y el Mundo | Vanguardia.com". Retrieved 8 June 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. IJF profile
  3. "Yuri Alvear Orejuela, campeona mundial de judo, es la segunda Deportista del Año de EL TIEMPO". eltiempo.com. 26 December 2009.
  4. "Vallecaucana Yuri Alvear es el primer oro de los Juegos Nacionales". eltiempo.com. Retrieved 8 June 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. colombia.com (28 July 2006). "Judo: Cuba demuestra su poderío al ganar mayoría de oro" (in Spanish). EFE. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  6. "63 – 70kg (middleweight) women results – Judo – Beijing 2008 Olympics". www.olympic.org. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  7. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Yuri Alvear". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  8. "World Championships Rotterdam, Event, JudoInside". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  9. "International Judo Federation". www.intjudo.eu. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  10. "World Championships women Vienna, Event, JudoInside". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  11. "World Championships Osaka, Event, JudoInside". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  12. "Judo: Colombiana Alvear, seis meses fuera de competencias por lesión". Spanish.china.org.cn.
  13. "63 – 70kg (middleweight) women results – Judo – London 2012 Olympics". www.olympic.org. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  14. elcolombiano.com (1 August 2012). "Yuri Alvear ganó medalla de bronce en judo" (in Spanish). Colprensa. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  15. "Yuri Alvear, Judoka, JudoInside". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
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