Esther San Miguel Busto (born 5 March 1975 in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

) is a Spanish

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

. She has won six national titles and two European titles for the half-heavyweight division (78 kg). She is also a bronze medalist at the

2003 World Judo Championships The 2003 World Judo Championships were the 23rd edition of the World Judo Championships, and were held in Osaka, Japan 11–15 September 2003. On the last day of competition, team events were held, as France won the men's team event and Japan wo ...

Osaka, Japan is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third most populous city in Ja ...

, and has captured a total of twenty-seven World Cup medals, including eight golds. San Miguel is a member of Centro de Alto Rendimiento Madrid Judo Club, and is coached by Sacramento Moyano.

Judo career

Since 1991, San Miguel had been competing in numerous tournaments across Spain and Europe, and had won several medals, including her first title at the

1998 European Judo Championships The 1998 European Judo Championships were the 9th edition of the European Judo Championships, and were held in Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative ...

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...

. She was selected to compete for Spain at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where she was defeated by South Korea's Lee So-yeon in the repechage bout of the women's half-heavyweight category (78 kg). At the

, she made her international breakthrough by winning the bronze medal in the 78 kg class. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, San Miguel lost the first preliminary match to Great Britain's Rachel Wildin, who scored an automatic

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

in the half-heavyweight event. Despite her major setback from the Olympics, San Miguel continued to win more bronze medals at the European Championships, and was able to capture her first gold medal at the

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

. San Miguel was selected to compete for the third time in the women's half-heavyweight division at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. She reached the semi-final round of the event by beating Vera Moskalyuk of Russia, Brazil's

Edinanci Silva Edinanci Fernandes da Silva (born 23 August 1976) is a judoka from Brazil, who won the gold medal in the half heavyweight division (– 78 kg) at the Pan American Games. A resident of São Paulo born in Sousa, Paraíba, Sousa, Paraíba, ...

, and

Lucia Morico Lucia Morico (born 12 December 1975 in Fano) is an Italian judoka. She won a bronze medal in the half-heavyweight (78 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώ ...

of Italy in the previous preliminary matches. San Miguel, however, was formidably defeated by China's

Yang Xiuli Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration pr ...

, who scored three yuko, and an ippon in the final seconds. With her opponent advancing directly into the finals, San Miguel proceeded to the bronze medal match, where she lost to France's

Stéphanie Possamaï Stéphanie Possamaï (born 30 July 1980, in Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital o ...

by a high-scoring

waza-ari is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon'' or ''waza-ari'' contest, usually judo, karate or jujutsu. ''Waza-ari'' in judo A ''waza-ari'' is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in judo, the ...

, finishing only in fifth place. At the

2009 European Judo Championships The 2009 European Judo Championships were held at the Sports Palace, in Tbilisi, Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast Unite ...

Tbilisi, Georgia Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million peo ...

, San Miguel won a gold medal for the half-heavyweight division since her first title in eleven years, defeating Ukraine's

Maryna Pryshchepa Maryna Pryshchepa (Ukrainian: Марина Прищепа; born 28 July 1983) is a Ukrainian judoka. Career She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics (Beijing) in the -78 kg event and lost her opening match to Heide Wollert. Four years later in ...

in the finals.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:San Miguel, Esther Spanish female judoka Living people Olympic judoka for Spain Judoka at the 2000 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Burgos 1975 births Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Competitors at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Summer World University Games medalists in judo Mediterranean Games medalists in judo FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Spain Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade 21st-century Spanish women