The Olympic Youth podium in the 44 kilogram judo

Summer Youth Olympics 2018 

The Olympic Youth podium in the 44 

kilogram judo

Gold Medal Win the Venezuela

BUENOS AIRES - The Venezuelan judoka María Giménez won the first gold medal for her country in the three editions of the Youth Olympic Games and the first for Latin America in Buenos Aires 2018.

Giménez, aged 16, won with solvency and strength in the category up to 44 kilos and wrote another golden page for the history of sports in Venezuela, which had never managed to climb to the top of the Olympic Youth podium - in Singapore 2010 it added 2 silvers and 3 bronzes and neither in Nanjing 2014.

"I feel very proud of having honored my country and having achieved the gold medal," said Giménez, who won the gold in the South American Games of Youth of Santiago 2017 and was Pan American champion of the category this year in Santo Domingo , in statements to buenosaires2018.com.

"I was very excited to know that all my efforts were not in vain and that I gave my best on the tatami. I dedicate the triumph to my family, to my sensei and to all of Venezuela ", confessed the judoka, visibly moved and with tears in her eyes, after which she added:" I never imagined that I would achieve something this big. I train from a very young age and it's a dream ".

The athlete born in Puerto Ordaz passed the first round by bye and entered to compete in the quarterfinals, where she defeated Argentina's Mikaela Rojas for an ippon. In the semifinals, the Ukrainian Anastasia Alaban won by a waza-ari, and in the match for the gold medal, Giménez beat ippon (11-0) to Tababi Thangjam, representative of India.

"I'm already waiting to get home to be able to hug my parents and my teammates," said the native athlete of the state of Bolivar, who thus wrote his name in golden letters in the sports history of his country.

"I really feel very proud of my performance in this competition, this is something new for me, this medal won with tears, pain and passion," he concluded.