Naina Cécilia Ravaoarisoa (born July 29, 1976 in

Antananarivo Antananarivo (French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("An ...

) is a Malagasy judoka who competed in the women's half-lightweight category. She picked up a total of six medals in her career, including a bronze from the

1999 All-Africa Games The 7th All-Africa Games were held from September 10, 1999, to September 19, 1999, in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 countries participated in eighteen sports. Netball was included as a demonstration sport. The South Africans hosted abo ...

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, and represented her nation

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004). Ravaoarisoa made her official debut 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 ...

in Sydney, where she competed in the women's half-lightweight class (52 kg). She lost her opening match to Chinese Taipei's

Shih Pei-chun Shih Pei-chun (born 23 February 1980) is a Taiwanese judoka who competed in 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 Millenni ...

, who successfully scored an

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 ...

victory and crippled her in a scarf hold ( kesa gatame) on the

tatami A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Tatamis are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about 0.9 m by 1.8 m depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are the floor used for traini ...

with only ninety seconds remaining in the five-minute bout. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in

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 ...

, Ravaoarisoa qualified as a lone judoka for her second Malagasy squad in the women's half-lightweight class (52 kg), by placing second and granting a berth from the African Championships in

Tunis, Tunisia ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. Like her previous Olympics, Ravaoarisoa denied her chance to edge past the opening round and to compete in the repechage, after crashing out early in a defeat to Belgian judoka and eventual bronze medalist

Ilse Heylen Ilse Heylen (born 21 March 1977, Edegem) is a Belgian judoka. She won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Heylen competed in the Half-lightweight (52 kg). She won her first ...

by a waza-ari awasete ippon point and a powerful

deashi harai , more accurately romanized: Deashibarai, is one of the original 40 throws of Judo as developed by Jigoro Kano. It belongs to the first group, Dai-Ikkyo, of the traditional throwing list, Gokyo-no-Nagewaza, of Kodokan Judo. It is also part of th ...

throw (advanced foot sweep) just 34 seconds into their match.

References

External links

* 1976 births Living people Malagasy female judoka Olympic judoka for Madagascar Judoka at the 2000 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Antananarivo African Games medalists in judo African Games bronze medalists for Madagascar Competitors at the 1999 All-Africa Games {{Madagascar-judo-bio-stub