Deborah Gravenstijn
Encyclopedia
Dibora Monick Olga "Deborah" Gravenstijn (born August 20, 1974 in Tholen
, Zeeland
) is a Dutch
judoka and First Lieutenant
in the Royal Netherlands Air Force
. She won a bronze medal in the class Women's 57 kg
at the 2004 Summer Olympics
and a silver medal four years later at the same event at the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing.
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.
Her first medal at a Dutch Junior Championship (under 18/21) she reached in 1987 when she became third in Assen
. One month later she won her first title at the Dutch Cadet Championship (under 16/18) in Elburg
. In the following years she was unable to retain the title, but still managed to win a bronze (in Haarlem
, 1988) and a silver medal (in Heerlen
, 1989). At international level she won her first tournament in Arlon in 1990, the Belgian Open
. She won a bronze medal at the Dutch All Categories Championships in Nieuwegein
in 1991 and she won the gold medal at the Under-19 championships in Geleen
; She also retained her Belgian Open title in Arlon and won the silver medal at the Dutch Championships in Den Bosch. In 1992, her last year as a junior she became Dutch national champion again and she won a silver medal at the All Categories Championships. At international level she became third at the World Masters in Munich
, won the silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Buenos Aires
and won the European title at the European Championships in Jerusalem.
. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
and the Grand Prix in Leonding
as well as two bronze medals at the Warsaw
Judo Tournament and the European Championships in Wroclaw
Gravenstijn qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics
in Sydney
. In her Olympic debut she reached the bronze medal contest, but did not manage to win the bout and ended up on the fifth position. Later that year she won her third national title and she became second at the World University Championships in Malaga
.
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 Prague
. At the European Championships in Paris
she reached the final, but had to be satisfied with silver. She then went on to win another silver at the World Championships in Munich
and in between she won an international event in Venray
. At the World Military Championships in Ostia
she had to be satisfied with a bronze medal, while she finished the year with a second position in the Fukuoka
Tournament in Japan
. Gravenstijn suffered from an injury in 2002, but still managed to win the bronze medal at the European Championships in Maribor
. She became third at the Dutch Open in Rotterdam in 2003 and won the British Open in Burgess Hill
and the international tournament in Venray. At the World Championships in Osaka
she became third.
2004 was all about the 2004 Summer Olympics
in Athens
. Gravenstijn qualified for the Olympics by becoming third at the A Tournament in Rome
and first in Tallinn
. In the first three rounds she was too strong for Cinzia Cavazzuti, Ellen Wilson
and Danielle Zangrando, which earned her a spot in the semi final. Yvonne Bönisch
won the semi final and eventually went on to win the gold medal against Kye Sun-Hui in the final. Gravenstijn on her turn beat Barbara Harel in the final of the repechages to take the bronze medal.
Trophy. 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.
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. 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.
and the first place in Warsaw
. During the 2008 European Judo Championships
in Lisbon
she qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics
. 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. 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. Due to Fernandez's win Gravenstijn remained on top op Kolodziej for the Olympic rankings. 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. The injury almost forced her to miss the Olympics, but Gravenstijn recovered faster than expected.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Gravenstijn had a bye
in the first round and defeated Ketleyn Quadros
in the second round. In the quarter finals she faced Fernandez and in a tactical game with just one koka
Gravenstijn advanced to the semi finals in which she won against local hero Xu Yan
. In the final and gold medal match Giulia Quintavalle
won with a yuko
and left Gravenstijn with the silver medal. Afterwards Gravenstijn dedicated the medal to her deceased sister and mother as well as to her still living family members.
Tholen
Tholen is a municipality in the southwest of the Netherlands. The municipality of Tholen has lent its name from the town of Tholen, which is the largest population center in the municipality....
, Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
) is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
judoka and First Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
in the Royal Netherlands Air Force
Royal Netherlands Air Force
The Royal Netherlands Air Force , Dutch Koninklijke Luchtmacht , is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Its ancestor, the Luchtvaartafdeling of the Dutch Army was founded on 1 July 1913, with four pilots...
. She won a bronze medal in the class Women's 57 kg
Judo at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's 57 kg
These are the results of the women's 57 kg competition in judo at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A total of 23 women competed in this event, limited to jūdōka whose body weight was less than 57 kilograms...
at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
and a silver medal four years later at the same event at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing.
Early years
Gravenstijn started her judo career when she was five years old. Although she and her family lived in RotterdamRotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
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.
Her first medal at a Dutch Junior Championship (under 18/21) she reached in 1987 when she became third in Assen
Assen
Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run...
. One month later she won her first title at the Dutch Cadet Championship (under 16/18) in Elburg
Elburg
Elburg is a municipality and a city in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands.-History:There is evidence of a Neolithic settlement at Elburg consisting of stone tools and pottery shards....
. In the following years she was unable to retain the title, but still managed to win a bronze (in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, 1988) and a silver medal (in Heerlen
Heerlen
Heerlen is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the province of Limburg. It forms part of Parkstad Limburg, , an agglomeration of about 220,000 inhabitants.After its early Roman beginnings and a rather modest medieval period, Heerlen...
, 1989). At international level she won her first tournament in Arlon in 1990, the Belgian Open
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. She won a bronze medal at the Dutch All Categories Championships in Nieuwegein
Nieuwegein
Nieuwegein is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital...
in 1991 and she won the gold medal at the Under-19 championships in Geleen
Geleen
Geleen is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. With 33,960 inhabitants, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Geleenbeek, a right tributary to the river Meuse. The town centre is situated at about 60 m above sea...
; She also retained her Belgian Open title in Arlon and won the silver medal at the Dutch Championships in Den Bosch. In 1992, her last year as a junior she became Dutch national champion again and she won a silver medal at the All Categories Championships. At international level she became third at the World Masters in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, won the silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and won the European title at the European Championships in Jerusalem.
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. 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 BaselBasel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. 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. In 1995 she prepared and qualified for the European Championships in Trnava
Trnava
Trnava is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj and of an okres . It was the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric . The city has a historic center...
where she won the bronze medal. She completed the year with a silver medal at the Dutch National Championships. 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.
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
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
she won the bronze medal and she ended the year with a silver medal at the Dutch National Championships. She won the GP Citta di Roma in 1999 and won another bronze medal at the European Championships in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
. With her team Kenamju she won the bronze medal in the European Club Cup final in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
. In November 1999 she won her second Dutch national title.
Olympic success
Thanks to two second places at the A Tournament in SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
and the Grand Prix in Leonding
Leonding
Leonding is a city situated to the southwest of Linz, Austria in the state of Upper Austria. It has a population of about 22,269 and an area of 24.05 km²...
as well as two bronze medals at the Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
Judo Tournament and the European Championships in Wroclaw
Wroclaw
Wrocław , situated on the River Oder , is the main city of southwestern Poland.Wrocław was the historical capital of Silesia and is today the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Over the centuries, the city has been part of either Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, or Germany, but since 1945...
Gravenstijn qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. In her Olympic debut she reached the bronze medal contest, but did not manage to win the bout and ended up on the fifth position. Later that year she won her third national title and she became second at the World University Championships in Malaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
.
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 Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. At the European Championships in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
she reached the final, but had to be satisfied with silver. She then went on to win another silver at the World Championships in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and in between she won an international event in Venray
Venray
Venray is a municipality and a town in Limburg, Netherlands, 115 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam. Venray has about 43,000 inhabitants.- Population centres :...
. At the World Military Championships in Ostia
Ostia (quarter of Rome)
Ostia is a large neighbourhood in the XIII Municipio of the comune of Rome, Italy. Ostia is also the only municipio or district of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea and many Romans spend the summer holidays there. Sometimes it is confused with Ostia Antica, an archaeological area, that is nearby...
she had to be satisfied with a bronze medal, while she finished the year with a second position in the Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
Tournament in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Gravenstijn suffered from an injury in 2002, but still managed to win the bronze medal at the European Championships in Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
. She became third at the Dutch Open in Rotterdam in 2003 and won the British Open in Burgess Hill
Burgess Hill
Burgess Hill is a civil parish and a town primarily located in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park...
and the international tournament in Venray. At the World Championships in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
she became third.
2004 was all about the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Gravenstijn qualified for the Olympics by becoming third at the A Tournament in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and first in Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
. In the first three rounds she was too strong for Cinzia Cavazzuti, Ellen Wilson
Ellen Wilson (judoka)
Ellen Bernice Wilson is a female judoka from the United States, who won the silver medal in the women's lightweight division at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She represented her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 in Sydney,...
and Danielle Zangrando, which earned her a spot in the semi final. Yvonne Bönisch
Yvonne Bönisch
Yvonne Bönisch is a German judoka.She won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics.-External links:*1987 she began with Judo at JV Ludwigsfelde....
won the semi final and eventually went on to win the gold medal against Kye Sun-Hui in the final. Gravenstijn on her turn beat Barbara Harel in the final of the repechages to take the bronze medal.
Tragedies
Two months after Gravenstijn won the bronze medal at the Olympics her younger sister Merghery died. Still she finished the year 2004 with a Dutch Championship title in Rotterdam. She was also awarded the Faas WilkesFaas Wilkes
Servaas "Faas" Wilkes was a Dutch football forward, who earned a total of 38 caps for the Dutch national team, in which he scored 35 goals...
Trophy. In 2005 she started with a third place at the Super World Cup in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and she became second in the World Cup in Rotterdam. At the European Championships, also held in Rotterdam she became seventh.
In May 2005 she fell during a match and suffered a double neck hernia
Hernia
A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it. A hiatal hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes into the mediastinum through the esophageal opening in the diaphragm....
. A return to the tatami
Tatami
A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core , with a covering of woven soft rush straw, tatami are made in standard sizes, with the length exactly twice the width...
was very unlikely, but she was determined to return and foughty hard to make her comeback. 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.
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. 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 BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and the first place in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. During the 2008 European Judo Championships
2008 European Judo Championships
The 2008 European Judo Championships were the nineteenth edition of the European Judo Championships, held in the Pavilhão Atlântico, in Lisbon, Portugal, from April 11 to April 13, 2008.- Men :- Women :- Medal table :- −60 kg :- −66 kg :...
in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
she qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. 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. Thanks to one of her main rivals in former years Isabel Fernández
Isabel Fernández
María Isabel Fernández Gutiérrez is a Spanish judoka. She is an Olympic champion, a world champion and six-time European champion. She won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and received an Olympic bronze medal in 1996.-References:...
who eliminated Inga Kolodziej just four seconds before the end of the game Gravenstijn qualified for the Olympics. Due to Fernandez's win Gravenstijn remained on top op Kolodziej for the Olympic rankings. One month before the start of the Olympics she was hit by a medicine ball
Medicine ball
A medicine ball is a weighted ball roughly the diameter of the shoulders . Often used for rehabilitation and strength training, it serves an important role in the field of sports medicine...
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. The injury almost forced her to miss the Olympics, but Gravenstijn recovered faster than expected.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
Gravenstijn had a bye
Bye
Bye may refer to:*Bye , a special type of run scored in the game of cricket*Bye , when a player or team is allowed to advance to the next round of a playoff tournament without playing*"Bye", a song by Elliott Smith from Figure 8...
in the first round and defeated Ketleyn Quadros
Ketleyn Quadros
Ketleyn Quadros is a Brazilian judoka. She won the bronze medal in the 57 kg weight class at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and became the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic medal in an individual sport....
in the second round. In the quarter finals she faced Fernandez and in a tactical game with just one koka
Koka
was a after Tenpō and before Kaei. This period spanned the years from December 1844 through February 1848. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:...
Gravenstijn advanced to the semi finals in which she won against local hero Xu Yan
Xu Yan
Xu Yan is a female Chinese judoka who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Lightweight event.-Major performances:*2003 World Championships - 7th -57 kg class;*2003 Asian Championships - 5th -57 kg class;...
. In the final and gold medal match Giulia Quintavalle
Giulia Quintavalle
Giulia Quintavalle is an Italian judoka. She won the gold medal in the -57 kg weight class at the 2008 Summer Olympics.-External links:* official website http://www.giuliaquintavalle.it/...
won with a yuko
Yuko
-Judo:Yuko is a lower grade of score, and only counts as a tie-breaker; it is not cumulative with other yuko scores.-Possible writings:Yūko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:*優子, "gentle, child"*裕子, "fertile, child"...
and left Gravenstijn with the silver medal. Afterwards Gravenstijn dedicated the medal to her deceased sister and mother as well as to her still living family members.