Paula Belén Pareto (born 16 January 1986) is an Argentine retired

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"). ...

and physician. She was the flag bearer for her country at the closing ceremony of the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She competed at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Biography

Paula, nicknamed "La Peque" (The small one), was born in San Fernando, Argentina. She lives with her parents in Tigre, close to the capital city. She began

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

at the age of four, and a year later, she took up

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

. Her inspiration for judo arose when she was 9, and her younger brother Marco came home from school beaten up. Her father, Aldo, used to practice judo when he was young, so he decided to send Marco to a judo club. Paula was curious and wanted to go too. Her first judo club was

Club San Fernando Club San Fernando is an Argentine multi-sports club based in San Fernando, Buenos Aires. One of the largest clubs of the North side of Greater Buenos Aires, the club hosts a wide range of sports and activities, such as basketball, basque pelota, ...

. She soon won her first tournament, and when she decided to continue practicing judo, she moved to bigger

Club Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wher ...

. First years she competed in the −44 kg division but later moved up to the −48 kg category. She is a big

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

fan and plays football with her friends. She had a period when she wanted to play football professionally, but she left the idea to pursue her judo career after that. Her favorite club is

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in th ...

and her home club

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, whe ...

. During the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, in an interview said that she is single, and her mother Mirta commented that it was like "You are engaged to judo". Paula has a younger brother called Marco, who is supporting her on her journeys around world tournaments, and an older sister called Estefanía who is a

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the pre ...

. She studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most presti ...

and graduated in March 2014. In November 2010, Paula was granted the Platinum

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...

as Argentina's best sportswoman of the last decade. In December 2015, she received the Gold Olimpia Award as the best athlete of the year from her country.

Judo

She won the bronze medal at

in one of the most dramatic matches of the whole tournament. She stood against Pak Ok-Song from

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. The Korean judoka was active the whole match and got a koka in the middle of the match for activity. Drama came in the last 10 seconds when Pak began a technique, but Paula made use of it for her technique, which was a counter to the Korean's move. Problems arose when the jury counted the technique for Pak, perhaps because she began to move first. In the end, Pak celebrated the medal, and Paula cried, but her trainer Carlos Denegri lodged an objection, so the jury checked the video. Finally, they agreed that it was Pareto who made the technique ( Kuchiki-taoshi), and so she took the medal. She is also very successful in continental games and championships like

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

. In August 2015, Paula won the gold medal at the World Judo Championship in

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, her first world title. At the

, Paula defeated Jeong Bo-kyeong to capture her first Olympic gold medal.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pareto, Paula 1986 births Living people Argentine female judoka Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine women physicians Judoka at the 2007 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2011 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina People from San Fernando de la Buena Vista Olympic judoka of Argentina Olympic bronze medalists for Argentina Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Olympic medalists in judo Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Argentina Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics University of Buenos Aires alumni Pan American Games medalists in judo South American Games gold medalists for Argentina South American Games silver medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in judo World judo champions Competitors at the 2006 South American Games Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics 20th-century Argentine women 21st-century Argentine women