María Espinoza
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | María del Rosario Espinoza Espinoza |
Nickname | Chayito[1] |
Nationality | Mexico |
Born | La Brecha, Sinaloa, Mexico | November 27, 1987
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2] |
Weight | 70 kg (154 lb) |
Sport | |
Sport | Taekwondo |
Medal record |
María del Rosario Espinoza Espinoza (born November 27, 1987) is a Mexican taekwondo practitioner.
Espinoza is one of the two women from Mexico who have won an Olympic gold medal, the other being Soraya Jiménez.[3]
Early life
Espinoza was born on 27 November 1987 in La Brecha, Sinaloa. Her father is a fisherman and mother a homemaker.[4] She began practicing taekwondo at age five.[4]
Career
Espinoza won her first international competition in taekwondo at the 2003 Pan American Youth Championship in Rio de Janeiro.[4] Later she participated in Open tournaments in Canada, France, and Germany.
She won the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships in the Middleweight (–72 kg) category defeating Lee In-Jong and also won the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in the Heavyweight (+67 kg) category, defeating Brazilian Natália Falavigna in the final.[5]
She participated in the +67 kg weight class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She began with a victory over Tunisian Khaoula Ben Hamza by a score of 4–0, later she beat Swedish Karolina Kedzierska 4–2. In the semifinals she qualified for the final by defeating British former world champion and eventual bronze medal winner Sarah Stevenson 4-1 and culminated in winning the gold medal by beating Norwegian Nina Solheim, earning the second gold for Mexico at the 2008 Olympics.[6]
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. She beat Sorn Davin in the first round before losing to eventual gold medallist Milica Mandić in the quarterfinals. In the repechage, she beat Talitiga Crawley before winning her bronze medal match against Glenhis Hernández.[7]
In
María Espinoza won second place in the Taekwondo world championships in Manchester on May 16, 2019.[10]
Military
Espinoza is a member of the
Education
Espinoza studied Business Administration at the
References
- ^ "Sinaloa celebra la medalla de plata de María Espinoza". El Universal. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- ^ "María Espinoza profile". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ^ "Fallece la campeona olímpica mexicana Soraya Jiménez". 29 March 2013.
- ^ a b c "Lo que debes saber de la taekwondoín María Espinoza". ESPN. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- ^ Natalia Falavigna
- ^ MARÍA DEL ROSARIO ESPINOZA ESPINOZA
- ^ "María Espinoza Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
- ^ "María Espinoza es histórica para México – Sportspedia México". Archived from the original on 2016-10-08. Retrieved 2016-08-20.
- ^ "María Espinoza, abanderada en Clausura de Río". Radio Formula. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- ^ "¡Mexicana hace historia en el Taekwondo!, María Espinoza gana su tercer medalla en un mundial" [Mexican makes history in Taekwondo !, María Espinoza wins her third medal in a world cup], Diario de Morelos (in Spanish), Cuernavaca, May 16, 2019, retrieved May 16, 2019
- ^ "De fuerzas armadas, las cuatro medallas de México". El Universal. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- ^ "UVM inaugura Salón de la Fama, María Espinoza es una de los integrantes". Noreste. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
External links
- María Espinoza at TaekwondoData.com
- María Espinoza at Olympedia