Vanessa Martina Zambotti Barreto (born 4 March 1982 in Parral, Chihuahua) is a Mexican of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent judoka.

Early and personal life

Zambotti was born in Parral, Chihuahua. She lives in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and trains judo in

CONADE CONADE is Mexico's National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport ( ''Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte''). It is the arm of the Mexican government charged with fostering and promoting physical education, recreation, and sport. C ...

. Her biggest motivation in her life is her family. She says that they are something like batteries for her. She studied Sports Administration at

Universidad del Valle de México The Universidad del Valle de México (UVM) is a private university founded in 1960 and one of the largest university systems in Mexico. The school enrolls more than 120,000 students, and has approximately 11,900 faculty members and 6,900 staff e ...

and got a degree. During

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 ...

she suffered an injury in the right shoulder. The injury did not look serious and she competed with it until summer of 2005, when the pain became unsufferable. A few weeks before

2005 World Judo Championships The 2005 World Judo Championships were the 24th edition of the Judo World Championships, and were held in Cairo, Egypt from September 8 to September 12, 2005. Brazilian João Derly was voted as best performance of the championship. On the last d ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, she underwent surgery and spent a year recovering. After the

2004 Olympic Games 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), ...

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 ...

she changed her trainer, now working with Brazilian Amadeus Díaz de Moura. She can always surprise because her category is a little erratic. Her biggest advantage is her size and experience.

Judo career

She has participated in three

Olympic games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. Zambotti won the bronze medal of the over 78 kg division of 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 ...

. In the

she won her first match against Tsvetana Bozhilova from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, but lost the second match against Barbara Andolina from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The Italian competitor lost her next match, so Zambotti was not involved in the

repêchage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

. In the 2008 Olympic Games in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

she was a medal hope 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 ...

as winner of Pan American Games from the previous year, but in her second match she was drawn against the Olympic champion from

, Maki Tsukada. She lost this match and finally took 9th place. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was knocked out in the first round, losing to Tong Wen, one of the eventual bronze medalists.

Achievements

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zambotti, Vanessa 1982 births Mexican female judoka Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Mexico Judoka at the 2007 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico Mexican people of Italian descent People from Chihuahua City Sportspeople from Chihuahua (state) Living people Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in judo Judoka at the 2015 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in judo Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games