Maria Pekli (born 12 June 1972 in

Baja, Hungary Baja () is a city with county rights in , southern Hungary. It is the second largest city in the county, after the county seat at Kecskemét, and is home to some 35,000 people. Baja is the seat of the Baja municipality. The environs of Baja have ...

) is an Australian

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"). ...

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 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 ...

, the first Australian woman to win an official Olympic Judo medal (although Sue Williams won a medal at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

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 Jorge L. Bonnet (born 11 May 1965) is a Puerto Rican judoka and bobsledder who competed at five Olympic Games. He competed in judo at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, and in bobsleigh at the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 ...

. In 2011, Pekli was awarded Life Membership of Judo Australia for her contribution to the sport at the

Australian National Judo Championships The Australian National Judo Championships are the highest level of judo competition in Australia. The championships are held annually by Judo Federation of Australia, Judo Australia, and qualified domestic and overseas judoka compete in their re ...

Achievements

External links

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Videos of Maria Pekli
(judovision.org) 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 1992 Summer Olympics 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 2002 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Bács-Kiskun County {{Hungary-judo-bio-stub