Kelita Zupancic (born May 9, 1990, in

Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. It had a population of 138,501 at the 2021 census. It ...

) is a judoka from

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 ...

. Zupancic won gold medals for Canada at the 2010, 2013 and 2015 Pan Am judo championships.

Biography

Zupancic was born in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

which is a town in the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

metro area. She is of Slovenian origin. Her father Eddie is a judo coach and trainer. She is member of the Formokan Judo Club and she has been training at the National Training Centre in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

under the watchful eyes of National Coach

Nicolas Gill Nicolas Gill (born 24 April 1972 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian judoka who competed at four consecutive Olympic Games. He is a two-time Olympic medalist, receiving a bronze in the middleweight (86 kg) division at his inaugural Olympia ...

and Hiroshi Namakura. Through some discussion with Hiroshi Namakura, it was felt that the time was right for Zupancic to train in Japan. Hiroshi Namakura contacted

Yoshiyuki Matsuoka is a retired judoka from Japan, who represented Japan at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Matsuoka won the gold medal in the men's half-lightweight division (65 kg), after having defeated South Korea's Hwang Jung-Oh ...

who is a former

Olympic Champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

and head coach at a private women's judo club which is sponsored by the company Komatsu Limited. He suggested to Zupancic that she should go to train at the Komatsu club. Zupancic agreed and Hiroshi Namakura arranged the visit. In January 2010, Zupancic visited the club for nearly one month. She endured very intense training with some of the top Japanese women in the world. Also coaching at Komatsu club is Kazuhiko Tokuno (Japan National Female Coach) and Mayumi Katsura, both former world class competitors. After her visit, Zupancic went on to win medals at a World Cup in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, and a Grand Prix in

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 ...

and then a gold at the

2010 Pan American Judo Championships The Pan American Judo Championships were held in San Salvador, El Salvador from 8 April to 11 April 2010. Medals table Results Men's events Women's events External links * Live results from Judo-World {{2010 in IJF World Tour Ame ...

in El Salvador. At the Formokan Judo Club's 35th year reunion (2010), Zupancic announced that she has been offered a position on the Komatsu club Judo team. According to Hiroshi Namakura, one foreign judoka is selected per year and Zupancic was recognized. She was offered a one-year contract to train with the team, work for Komatsu club and compete for them at team events. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, losing to eventual gold winner

Lucie Décosse Lucie Décosse (born 6 August 1981 in Chaumont) is a retired female French judoka. Career Décosse competed in the half-middleweight (57–63 kg) category until 2008. Thereafter, she switched to the middleweight (63–70 kg) category ...

in the second round. At the 2014 World Judo Championships, she finished in 5th place. She has been ranked number one to three in the world between 2012 and 2015. In June 2016, she was named to Canada's Olympic team. At the 2016 Olympics, she beat Esther Stam in the second round, before losing to Haruka Tachimoto, the eventual champion, in the quarterfinals. Because Tachimoto reached the final, Zupancic was entered into the repechage. In the repechage, she lost to

Bernadette Graf Bernadette Graf (born 25 June 1992) is an Austrian judoka. Graf represented Austria at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 Augus ...

References

External links

Judoinside

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zupancic, Kelita 1990 births Living people Canadian female judoka Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for Canada Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario Judoka at the 2011 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in judo Canadian people of Slovenian descent Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games

Biography

See also

References

External links