DRIULIS GONZALEZ, ATHLETE SYMBOL OF CUBAN FEMALE JUDO – SportHistoria

Driulis González with 1996 Atlanta Gold – from: judoinside.com

Article of Giovanni Manenti

In the overall Olympic medal table, Cuba is a nation that sees combat disciplines privileged, apart from athleticsproof of this is that this ranking is headed, by detachment from Boxing, with 78 laurels of which 41 Golds – furthermore favored by the fact that, since Amateurism is in force in that country, Champions like Teofilo Stevenson or Felix Savon have been able to dominate against young opponents, while they could have (or should have …) taken on the best professional heavyweights – but Wrestling and Judo are also well represented, with the latter having so far seen 37 of its representatives on the podiumalbeit with fewer statements (6 against 11) than the wrestlers …

Sport introduced at the 1964 Tokyo Games – and taken up by the 1972 Munich edition after skipping Mexico City 1968 – Judo has seen the Olympic program also be extended to the women’s sector since the 1992 Barcelona reviewa circumstance from which the Caribbean country has benefited greatly, considering that of the aforementioned 37 medals won up to now, the ratio is very merciless towards males with a ratio of 26-11 for laurels and 5-1 for the number of golds, although the first Cuban to achieve the “Olympic gloryWas Hector Rodriguez, taking the Lightweight title at the 1976 Montreal Games.

And even if the first Caribbean judoka to climb the top step of the podium was the then 22-year-old Odalis Revé, who established herself in the Middleweight category in the inaugural edition of Barcelona 1992 as far as the female sector is concerned, there is no doubt that the one who brought Cuban Judo to the highest international levels can only be the protagonist of our history today, where it is thought that she was capable in his career to win “something”Like 78 titles, including the Olympics, the World Cup, the World Cup and various tournaments….

Born on 21 September 1973 in Guantanamo, Driulis Gonzalez made her debut in the international panorama at the age of 18 at the beginning of January 1992 winning the first of his 7 titles (1992, 1994, 1996-’98 and 2007-’08) at the Pan-American Championships, and then taking part in the World Cup stage in Paris, remedying two defeats by the French Magnien and the German Eck , so that at his Olympic debut in the Catalan capital, he certainly does not receive the favors of the predictionregistered in the Lightweight Category with a limit of 56 kilograms …

Race taking place on July 31, 1992 at the Palau Blaugrana and that, on the basis of the ranking, sees the young Cuban also having to compete in the preliminary round, where she is easily right of the Brazilian Jemina Alves, and then also overcomes the Cuban Gontowicz and the Swedish Ursula Myren and therefore to be blocked the way to the Final for the Gold by the darling of the house, as well as world champion of charge, Miriam Blascowhich is imposed for ippon, forcing Gonzalez to repechage for the bronze award, resolved in their favor at the expense of the American Kate Donahoo, while Blasco won the Gold Medal by defeating in the Final the British Nicola Fairbrother, with whom she will later create a civil union.

The positive Olympic debut convinces the Caribbean athlete about her potential, which leads her, in the following four years, to secure the bronze at the 1993 Hamilton World Championships and then seize his first great achievement by winning the World Championships held at the end of September 1995 in Chiba, Japan, where he defeated South Korea’s Jung Sun-Yong in the Finalafter having taken the first of his four consecutive titles at the Pan American Games at the end of March in Mar del Plata, which is not of excessive technical value, given that all 8 categories envisaged were the prerogative of Cuban athletes, and having also won the Gold Medal at the Fukuoka Universiade, where she surpasses the Japanese Chiyori Tateno in the Final …

In any case, it is an approach to the appointment of the Atlanta 1996 Games with a very different spirit than the previous edition, given the role of world champion in office, and on 24 July on the “Georgia World Congress Center“, Now almost 23 years old Gonzalez surpasses the French Magali Baton (bronze at the Universiade …), the Dutch Jessica Gal (bronze at the 1993 World Cup …) and the silver in Barcelona, ​​as well as the 1993 World Champion, Fairbrother only to face the Chinese Liu Chuang for access to the Final, liquidating the Asian for ippon after just 21 “…

On the other side of the scoreboard, the aforementioned qualification for the Final is disputing South Korean Jung and the Spanish Isabel Fernandez, with the first to establish themselves for superiority, so that the challenge for the “Olympic glory“Sees a repeat of the one that took place 12 months earlier in the world championship and the conclusion is the same, that is, with Gonzalez to prevail for superiority (yuko / seoi-nage) at the end of the 4 ‘foreseen.

A victory suffered mainly due to the fact that the Cuban had appeared in the capital of Georgia just two months after an injury that had caused her to fracture a cervical vertebraan undoubted test of courage also fortunately well rewarded, even if, from now on, she can certainly no longer hide, engaging in a fierce rivalry with the Spanish Fernandez, who in Atlanta had still managed to conquer the bronze …

And “head to head”Which sees its first act the following year, when the two find themselves facing each other in the Final of the World Cup in Paris which sees the 25-year-old Iberian prevaila challenge that, after Gonzalez repeats the 1995 Gold at the 1999 Universiade in Palma de Mallorca, is proposed again in the Final of the World Championships which takes place on 9 October 1999 in Birmingham, with the Cuban winning this timeso as to make an appointment with the “Millennium End Games“Of Sydney 2000 for what is certainly not wrong to define the”showdown”.

Surely the two most accredited to the Olympic title in the forecast on the eve, the Fernandez also reaches the final act without having demonstrated a great condition, given that she surpasses both the Japanese Kie Kusakabe and the Australian Maria Pekli for superiority decreed by the referee judgment, while on the other side of the scoreboard appears more convincing the state of form of the Olympic and world champion in officewhich has the Belgian Marisabel Lomba and the Chinese Shen Jun …

However, the defensive tactics of the Spaniard pays off in the Final, managing to control the attacks of the Cuban who, in forcing the times, runs into a penalty that proves decisive for the assignment of the Gold Medaldespite the fact that the latter had presented itself on the tatami of the “Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre”A 5-2 lead in direct comparisons with Fernandez.

It may certainly have affected the difficulty for Gonzalez in falling within the weight limits (even if it had been extended up to 57kg.), So much so that with the entry into the new Century, he climbs up the category among the Superlight (up to 63kg.), returning to compete, after a two-year break, on the occasion of the 2003 World Championships which take place in mid-September in Osaka, proving to be still competitive by taking the silver, defeated in the Final by Argentina Daniela Krukower, who was beaten only a month earlier in the semi-final of the Pan American Games …

Now past the threshold of 30 years, the Gonzalez shows up at the 2004 Athens Games for his fourth Olympic participation, however, being eliminated in the first fight by the Slovenian Urska Zolnir, still managing to find the energy and concentration to the path to the repechage that leads her to a fourth medal, albeit a bronze one, thanks also to the fact that Krukower is forced to abandon herself in the challenge with the Japanese Ayumi Tanimotothen Gold at the end of a crazy day, characterized only by victories before the limit.

One could also reasonably think that the time has come for the Cuban to retire from competitive activity, but this idea does not even touch her and so here she is again to challenge her opponents to the The Cairo World Championship at the beginning of September 2005, where he occupies the lowest step of the podiumdefeated in the semifinals by the French Lucie Decosse who then “takes luxury“To overcome the Olympic champion Tanimoto in the final challenge, before doing what can rightly be considered her masterpiece two years later at the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro …

We are in mid-September 2007, on the 14th to be exact, and 34-year-old Gonzalez won her third world title in her career by doing two “famous victims”Such as Tanimoto in the semifinals and Decosse in the Finalso as to present itself with renewed ambitions the year following its fifth Olympics scheduled in Beijing from 8 to 34 August 2008.

The Super Lightweight Judo Tournament takes place on August 12th and results in a sort of “déjà vu“, In the sense that the Cuban’s journey stops in the semifinals against the Japanese, who takes revenge on the Decosse at the final act, while Gonzalez, this time, fails to crown her fifth participation in the Games with as many medalsbeing defeated by the Dutch Elisabeth Willeboordse in the challenge that is worth the bronze …

The record remains – on a par with the aforementioned Pekli and with the Japanese Ryoko Tamura-Tani – linked to the five appearances at the Gamesin addition to the four medals to which seven are joined (3 Golds, 2 silvers and as many bronzes …) Driulis Gonzalez, without fear of denial, one of the greatest interpreters of the Disciplinehaving also the merit of having left the inheritance in good hands, with the baton taken up by compatriot Idalys Ortiz who, to date, has won four medals (One Gold, 2 silver and one bronze …) in as many Olympic appearances in the Category of Heavy Weights and who knows if, now 32 years old, he will also want to compete in Paris 2024 …

Maybe just to break Driulis’ record of laurels …