Ilse Heylen (born 21 March 1977,

Edegem Edegem (, first mentioned as ''Buizegem'' in 1173) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Edegem proper. In 2021, Edegem had a total population of 22,244. The total area is 8.65&n ...

) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

judoka. She won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. 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 ...

, Heylen competed in the Half-lightweight (52 kg). She won her first two bouts against Madagascar's

Naina Ravaoarisoa Naina Cécilia Ravaoarisoa (born July 29, 1976 in Antananarivo) 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 in ...

and Kazakhstan's Sholpan Kaliyeva before losing to Cuba's Amarilis Savón, the eventual bronze medal winner, she advanced to the repechage however. She won all of her repechage bouts over Sanna Askelöf of Sweden and Georgina Singleton of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

before winning her bronze medal bout over France's

Annabelle Euranie Annabelle Euranie (born 4 September 1982 in Gonesse, France) is a French judoka who competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XX ...

. Heylen also became the 2005 European Champion (in Rotterdam) and won a silver medal in 2004 and a bronze medal at the 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 European Championships in Belgrade. She also competed at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she reached the semi-finals, where she was defeated by the eventual silver medalist, Yanet Bermoy.

References

External links

* * 1977 births Living people Belgian female judoka Olympic judoka of Belgium Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Belgium Olympic medalists in judo People from Edegem Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in judo Universiade bronze medalists for Belgium European Games competitors for Belgium Judoka at the 2015 European Games Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Antwerp Province {{Belgium-judo-bio-stub