Mabel Fonseca Ramírez (born May 8, 1972 in Guantánamo,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

) is a retired amateur Puerto Rican freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's lightweight category. She produced a remarkable tally of four career medals; three of them were bronze from the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

(2003 and 2007) and World Championships and a silver in the 59-kg division from the

2006 Central American and Caribbean Games The 20th edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games was held in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. The tournament began on July 15 and ended on July 30. Host city *Main host city **Cartagena de Indias *Subsites: **Barranquilla, Colombia ( ...

. Fonseca also had an opportunity to represent

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

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), ...

, but her participation had been marred by a disqualification for failing the doping test. Throughout her sporting career, Fonseca trained as a member of the women's wrestling team for Esporto San Juan under her personal coach Reinaldo Jimenez. Fonseca highlighted her wrestling career at the

2002 World Wrestling Championships The following are the final results of the 2002 World Wrestling Championships. The 36th Men's Freestyle Competition was held in Tehran, Iran, while the 47th Men's Greco-Roman Competition was staged in Moscow, Russia and the 15th Women's Competitio ...

Chalcis Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, where she picked up a bronze medal in the 59-kg division over France's Sandrine Seve, and then boasted for another one at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. When women's wrestling made its debut 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 ...

, Fonseca qualified as a lone wrestler for the Puerto Rican squad in the 55 kg class. Earlier in the process, she chose to drop down her weight class by four kilograms and thereby placed fifth from the

2003 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2003 World Wrestling Championships. The Freestyle Competition was held in New York City, United States, while the Greco-Roman Competition was held in Créteil, France. Medal table Team ranking Medal su ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In the prelim pool, Fonseca pinned Ukraine's

Tetyana Lazareva Tetyana Viktorivna Lazareva ( uk, Тетяна Вікторівна Лазарева; born 4 July 1981) is a Ukrainian female wrestler. She represented Ukraine at the 2012 Summer Olympics in women's freestyle 55 kg. She finished 5th after losing ...

in her opening match, but fell behind Sweden's Ida-Theres Karlsson with a similar disposition before reaching the minute mark. Despite missing a spot for the semifinals, Fonseca had a chance to edge past U.S. wrestler

Tela O'Donnell Tela O'Donnell (born July 16, 1982 in Homer, Alaska) is a retired amateur American freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's lightweight category. She picked up the 2003 U.S. national runner-up trophy in her respective division, and later ...

10–7, and China's Sun Dongmei 8–6 in overtime during the classification rounds. Fonseca originally claimed the fifth position, but was disqualified from the tournament after being tested positive for stanozolol, allowing other wrestlers behind her to upgrade their rankings. Upon lifting her two-year suspension from anti-doping violation, Fonseca returned to the wrestling scene, and captured two more medals in the lightweight category at the

Cartagena, Colombia Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

, and at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. She also vowed to improve her gaming strategy and sought to compete for 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 ...

, but missed a spot from the Olympic Qualification Tournament.

References

External links

* 1972 births Living people Puerto Rican female sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Puerto Rico Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2003 Pan American Games Wrestlers at the 2007 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Guantánamo Puerto Rican people of Cuban descent Doping cases in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists Pan American Games bronze medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Cuban female judoka {{PuertoRico-wrestling-bio-stub