María del Rosario Espinoza Espinoza (born November 27, 1987) is a Mexican

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

practitioner. Espinoza is one of the two women from Mexico who have won an Olympic gold medal, the other being

Soraya Jiménez Soraya Jiménez Mendivil (a twin sister born 5 August 1977 – 28 March 2013) was a Mexican weightlifter and Olympic champion. She participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney where she won a gold medal. Jiménez became the first eve ...

Early life

Espinoza was born on 27 November 1987 in La Brecha, Sinaloa. Her father is a fisherman and mother a homemaker. She began practicing

at age five.

Career

Espinoza won her first international competition in taekwondo at the 2003 Pan American Youth Championship in

Rio de Janeiro 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 ...

. Later she participated in Open tournaments in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She won the

2007 World Taekwondo Championships The 2007 World Taekwondo Championships were the 18th edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and were held in Beijing, China from May 18 to May 22, 2007. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Team ranking Men Women Referenc ...

in the Middleweight (–72 kg) category defeating Lee In-Jong and also won the gold medal 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 C ...

in the Heavyweight (+67 kg) category, defeating Brazilian Natália Falavigna in the final. She participated in the +67 kg weight class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She began with a victory over Tunisian Khaoula Ben Hamza by a score of 4–0, later she beat Swedish Karolina Kedzierska 4–2. In the semifinals she qualified for the final by defeating British former world champion and eventual bronze medal winner

Sarah Stevenson Sarah Diana Stevenson, MBE (born 30 March 1983) is a British taekwondo athlete. A world champion in 2001, Stevenson won her country's first ever Olympic medal in taekwondo, a bronze, at the 2008 Games in Beijing, her third Ol ...

4-1 and culminated in winning the gold medal by beating Norwegian

Nina Solheim Nina Solheim (born 4 August 1979) is a Norwegian taekwondo practitioner. She won a silver medal in the women's heavyweight (+67 kg) division at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, beaten by Mexican María del Rosario Espinoza i ...

, earning the second gold for

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

at the 2008 Olympics. In 2012, María returned to the Olympics in London. She carried the flag for Mexico during the Parade of Nations and won a bronze medal. She beat Sorn Davin in the first round before losing to eventual gold medallist

Milica Mandić Milica Mandić ( sr-cyr, Милица Мандић, born 6 December 1991) is a Serbian taekwondo athlete. She is a two-time Olympic champion in the +67 kg category, as well as World champion in the same category. Career Mandić won a bronze m ...

in the quarterfinals. In the repechage, she beat Talitiga Crawley before winning her bronze medal match against Glenhis Hernández. In

Rio 2016 ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, Espinoza won a silver medal to become the first female Mexican athlete to earn an Olympic medal in three different Olympic Games, and the second Mexican athlete to earn Olympic medals in three consecutive editions. She carried Mexico's flag at the closing ceremony in 2016. María Espinoza won second place in the Taekwondo world championships in Manchester on May 16,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Military

Espinoza is a member of the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National ...

with the rank of ''Cabo'' (

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

) ''auxiliar de Educación Física y Deportes''. Top athletes have joined the military for the stable income and access to the best training facilities. For the 2016 Rio Olympics, 21 of the 125 Mexican athletes were part of the military. Four of the five medals won at those games were won by military personnel (María Espinoza, Germán Sánchez, Ismael Hernández and

Lupita González María Guadalupe González Romero (born 9 January 1989), better known as Lupita González, is a Mexican racewalker. She was the gold medalist at the 2015 Pan American Games and is the national record holder in the 20 kilometres race walk. Care ...

Education

Espinoza studied Business Administration at the Universidad del Valle de Mexico. She was inducted into the university's Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinoza, Maria 1987 births Living people Mexican female taekwondo practitioners Olympic gold medalists for Mexico Olympic taekwondo practitioners of Mexico Taekwondo practitioners at the 2007 Pan American Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Sinaloa Olympic medalists in taekwondo Olympic bronze medalists for Mexico Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Mexico Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 2015 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games World Taekwondo Championships medalists Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in taekwondo Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 20th-century Mexican women 21st-century Mexican women