Varvara Akritidou ( gr, Βαρβάρα Ακριτίδου; born 15 July 1981 in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

) is a Greek

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"). ...

, who competed in the women's half-heavyweight category. She held two Greek senior titles in her own division, picked up a total of six medals in her career, and represented her home nation

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 ...

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), ...

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 ...

. Akritidou qualified for the Greek squad in the women's half-heavyweight class (78 kg) at the

, by filling up an entry by the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

and the

Hellenic Olympic Committee The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) ( el, Ελληνική Ολυμπιακή Επιτροπή) is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is the second oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee), it o ...

, as Greece received an automatic berth for being the host nation. She lost her opening match to an experienced Ukrainian judoka Anastasiia Matrosova, 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 ...

and dropped her to 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 a

sukui nage is one of the original 40 Throw (grappling), throws of Judo as developed by Jigoro Kano. It belongs to the fourth group, Judo Lists#Yonkyo, Yonkyo, of the traditional throwing list, Gokyo (no waza), of Kodokan Judo. It is also part of the current ...

(double leg takedown) assault at two minutes. In the repechage, Akritidou raised her hopes of claiming an Olympic bronze medal for the host nation, but slipped them away in a defeat to South Korea's Lee So-yeon by an

and a kami shiho gatame one minute and sixteen seconds into their first playoff of the draft.

References

External links

*
Hellenic Judo Federation Bio
1981 births Living people Greek female judoka Olympic judoka for Greece Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Thessaloniki 21st-century Greek women {{Greece-judo-bio-stub