Deborah Gravenstijn
Judoka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Country | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Judo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight class | –52 kg, –57 kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Olympic Games | (2008) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Champ. |
( 2001) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
European Champ. |
( 2001 ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Profile at external databases | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IJF | 26593 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
JudoInside.com | 40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Updated on 30 May 2023. |
Dibora Monick Olga "Deborah" Gravenstijn (born 20 August 1974 in
Biography
Early years
Gravenstijn started her judo career when she was five years old.[2] Although she and her family lived in Rotterdam they always joined her to tournaments held anywhere within the Netherlands. As soon as Gravenstijn participated in international tournaments her family was unable to keep up with attending every tournament, however they did whatever they could to support Deborah.[2]
Her first medal at a Dutch Junior Championship (under 18/21) she reached in 1987 when she became third in
Success in the nineties
1993 was Gravenstijn's first year as a senior and in no-time she had adjusted to the national level by becoming third at the Dutch All Categories Championships and by winning the Rotterdam Open both in January.[3] At the Dutch National Championships in Den Bosch she won the silver medal in November and in December she won her first international tournament as a senior, the Swiss International in Basel.[3] She won another bronze at the All Categories championships and she retained her Rotterdam Open title. Besides that she did not book any other notable results in 1994.[3] In 1995 she prepared and qualified for the European Championships in Trnava where she won the bronze medal. She completed the year with a silver medal at the Dutch National Championships.[3] She won her first All Categories Championship in 1996 and managed to win two bronze medals, at the Dutch Open and the Dutch National Championships.[3]
She became Dutch national champion for the first time in her career in 1997. Then in 1998 she became second at the Grand Prix Citta di Roma and at the Dutch Open. At the European Championships in Oviedo she won the bronze medal and she ended the year with a silver medal at the Dutch National Championships.[3] She won the GP Citta di Roma in 1999 and won another bronze medal at the European Championships in Bratislava. With her team Kenamju she won the bronze medal in the European Club Cup final in Haarlem. In November 1999 she won her second Dutch national title.[3]
Olympic success
Thanks to two second places at the A Tournament in
The Olympic result encouraged her to perform well in 2001. She became second at the Grand Prix in Leonding and won the Grand Prix in
2004 was all about the
Tragedies
Two months after Gravenstijn won the bronze medal at the Olympics her younger sister Merghery died.[4] Still she finished the year 2004 with a Dutch Championship title in Rotterdam. She was also awarded the Faas Wilkes Trophy.[3] In 2005, she started with a third place at the Super World Cup in Hamburg and she became second in the World Cup in Rotterdam. At the European Championships, also held in Rotterdam she became seventh.[3]
In May 2005 she fell during a match and suffered a double neck hernia. A return to the tatami was very unlikely, but she was determined to return and foughty hard to make her comeback.[4] One month before she eventually made her comeback in March 2007 her mother Carmen died, her second loss in her direct family since she won her Olympic medal.[4]
Comeback
Her comeback to the international judo circuit was no success from the start. The death of her family members and her recent injuries still had a huge impact on her performances. Also due to these happenings her coach Jan de Rooij was no longer able to give her the aggression she needed to compete.[4] National coach Marjolein van Unen took over from De Rooij in February 2008. Since then Gravestijn achieved a total of three top 5 rankings in World Cup meetings, inclusive the second place in Budapest and the first place in Warsaw.[4] During the 2008 European Judo Championships in Lisbon she qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[4] She lost in the second round of the tournament after a mistake made by the referee, who changed the score of her match the exact other way, just 40 seconds before the end of the match.[5] Thanks to one of her main rivals in former years Isabel Fernández who eliminated Inga Kolodziej just four seconds before the end of the game Gravenstijn qualified for the Olympics.[4] Due to Fernandez's win Gravenstijn remained on top op Kolodziej for the Olympic rankings.[4] One month before the start of the Olympics she was hit by a medicine ball during a training session. The ball which weights 5 kilograms landed with a high speed at her head, giving her recently recovered neck another big smack.[6] The injury almost forced her to miss the Olympics, but Gravenstijn recovered faster than expected.[6]
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in
References
- ^ a b c d Athlete biography: Deborah Gravenstijn Archived 14 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine, beijing2008.cn, ret: 12 August 2008
- ^ a b Biography Deborah Gravenstijn Archived 2 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine, deborahgravenstijn.nl, ret: 122 August 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Results Deborah Gravenstijn Archived 16 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, ret: 13 August 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Tragedies for Deborah Gravenstijn, nrc.nl, ret: 13 August 2008
- ^ Lissabon, judoinside.com, ret: 13 August 2008
- ^ a b Medicinebal nekte Gravenstijn bijna, telegraaf.nl, ret: 13 August 2008
- ^ Gravenstijn bounces back from tragedy to win precious medal Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, us.terra.com, ret: 13 August 2008
External links
- Deborah Gravenstijn at the International Judo Federation
- Deborah Gravenstijn at JudoInside.com
- Deborah Gravenstijn at AllJudo.net (in French)
- Deborah Gravenstijn at Olympics.com
- Deborah Gravenstijn at Olympedia
- Deborah Gravenstijn at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Deborah Gravenstijn at The-Sports.org
- Deborah Gravenstijn on Twitter
- Official homepage (Dutch)