Maria Pekli
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| Born | 12 June 1972 (age 49) Baja, Hungary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Maria Pekli (born 12 June 1972 in Baja, Hungary) is an Australian judoka of Hungarian descent. She was Australian Champion in the u/57 kg division for seven consecutive years, between 1997 and 2003.
She won a bronze medal in the lightweight (57 kg) division at the 2000 Summer Olympics, the first Australian woman to win an official Olympic Judo medal (although Sue Williams won a medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics when Women's Judo was a demonstration sport).
Along with Cuba's Driulys González and Japan's Ryoko Tamura-Tani, Pekli became in 2008 the first female judoka to compete at five Olympics. The only other judokas to compete at five Olympics are Belgian Robert Van de Walle and Puerto Rican judoka-bobsledder Jorge Bonnet.
In 2011, Pekli was awarded Life Membership of Judo Australia for her contribution to the sport at the Australian National Judo Championships.
Achievements[]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 5th | Lightweight (57 kg) |
| 2003 | World Judo Championships | Osaka, Japan | 5th | Lightweight (57 kg) |
| 2002 | Commonwealth Games | Manchester, England | 1st | Lightweight (57 kg) |
| 2000 | Olympic Games | Sydney | 3rd | Lightweight (57 kg) |
| 1996 | European Judo Championships | The Hague, Netherlands | 2nd | Lightweight (56 kg) |
| 1995 | European Judo Championships | Birmingham, England | 7th | Lightweight (56 kg) |
| 1993 | World Judo Championships | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada | 5th | Lightweight (56 kg) |
External links[]
- Maria Pekli at JudoInside.com
- Maria Pekli at the Australian Olympic Committee
- Maria Pekli at Olympedia
- Maria Pekli at databaseOlympics.com (archived)
- Maria Pekli at the Commonwealth Games Federation
- "Maria Pekli: Aiming high". ABC. 28 July 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
- Videos of Maria Pekli (judovision.org)
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- 1972 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Hungarian people
- 21st-century Hungarian people
- Olympic medalists in judo
- Hungarian female judoka
- Olympic judoka of Hungary
- Judoka at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Australian female judoka
- Olympic judoka of Australia
- Olympic bronze medalists for Australia
- Judoka at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia
- Hungarian emigrants to Australia
- People from Baja, Hungary
- Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games medallists in judo
- Judoka at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Judoka at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
- Australian Olympic medalist stubs
- Australian judo biography stubs
- Hungarian judo biography stubs