Kim Ryon-mi ( ko, 김련미; born February 8, 1983) is a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

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"). ...

, who competed in the women's middleweight category. She captured two silver medals in the 70-kg division at the Asian Judo Championships (2004 and 2005), and finished seventh 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), ...

, representing her nation

. Kim qualified for the North Korean squad in the women's middleweight class (70 kg) at the

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 ...

, by placing second and receiving a berth from the Asian Championships in

Almaty, Kazakhstan Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...

. She easily thwarted Angola's

Antonia Moreira Antonia may refer to: People * Antonia (name), including a list of people with the name * Antonia gens, a Roman family, any woman of the gens was named ''Antonia'' * Antônia (footballer) * Antônia Melo Entertainment * ''Antonia's Line'', orig ...

with an earth-shattering ippon in her opening match, before succumbed to a similar tactic and an

sumi gaeshi is one of the original 40 throws of Judo as developed by Jigoro Kano. It belongs to the fourth group, Dai Yonkyo, of the traditional throwing list, Gokyo-no-Nagewaza, of Kodokan Judo. It is also part of the current 67 Throws of Kodokan Judo. It ...

(corner reversal) hold from Australia's

Catherine Arlove Catherine Arlove (born 5 February 1971 in Malvern, Victoria) is an Australian judoka who has also represented Australia in wrestling and competed at a national level in cycling. Arlove has won ten Gold medals at the Australian National Judo Cha ...

. In the repechage round, Kim chased Czech judoka and two-time Olympian

Andrea Pažoutová Andrea Pažoutová-Pokorná (born January 6, 1979) is a Czech judoka, who competed in the women's middleweight category. She held nine Czech senior titles in her own division, picked up a total of twenty-four medals in her career, including a bro ...

with a sensational

ōuchi gari is one of the original 40 throws of Judo as developed by Kanō Jigorō. It belongs to the first group, Dai Ikkyo, of the traditional throwing list, Gokyo (no waza), of Kodokan The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of the ...

(big inner reap) throw to score a

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 ...

(half point) within a five-minute limit, but her rigid form was not enough to combat Belgium's Catherine Jacques in their subsequent match, relegating Kim into the seventh position.

References

External links

* 1983 births Living people North Korean female judoka Olympic judoka for North Korea Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for North Korea {{NorthKorea-judo-bio-stub