Yuri Alvear Orejuela (born 29 March 1986) is a Colombian judoka, three times World Champion in her division.

Early life

Yuri was born in

Jamundí Jamundí is a town and municipality in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Jamundí is located south of Cali (the capital of the department) in the west riverside of the Cauca River The average temperature is 23° Celsius. Histo ...

which is a suburb of Cali, the third largest city in Colombia. Her father Arnuy is a builder and mother Miryam is a

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

. She also has a brother, Harvy. From youth, she was very talented in all kind of sports, she participated in

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, handball,

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. When she was 14 Ruperto Guaúña, a judo trainer of Litecom school, was looking for girls for his judo team. That's how Yuri became a judoka. Yuri began judo late, but she already was already in good physical condition from previous sport so she just needed to learn technical aspects of judo. She is a very good friend with other top Colombian judoka Anny Cortez. She is also her

sparring partner Sparring is a form of training common to many combat sports. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively ' free-form' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to minimize injuries. By extension, argumentative debate ...

Judo career

Alvear won a bronze medal in the under 57 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 2008, she participated in the

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 ...

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where she placed 7th. She lost to Anaysi Hernández of Cuba in the main draw and then lost a very close match against Leire Iglesias from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the repechage losing her chance to fight for a medal. In 2009, she won the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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. In the final she gained victory over Anett Mészáros from

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 became the third South American judoka to win the title, following Natasha Hernández (of Venezuela) in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

Daniela Krukower Daniela Yael Krukower ( he, דניאלה קרוקובר; born 6 January 1975 in Colegiales, Buenos Aires) is a former judoka from Argentina. Biography Krukower was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a Jewish family, and at an early age moved wit ...

(of Argentina) in 2003. Two weeks before 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 ...

, after training she felt some pain in her left knee. She went to doctor and he found that she had a torn ACL. In 2012, she won a bronze medal at the

in London, beating Chen Fei of China. This was the first ever Olympic medal for Colombia in Judo. In 2016, she returned to the

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 ...

in Rio and won a silver medal, becoming the 5th Colombian athlete to win two Olympic medals.

Achievements

All results referenced in her JudoInside profile.

References

External links

*
Worldjudo2014.ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvear, Yuri 1986 births Living people People from Jamundí Colombian female judoka Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2011 Pan American Games Olympic judoka for Colombia Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Colombia Olympic bronze medalists for Colombia Olympic medalists in judo Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for Colombia Pan American Games bronze medalists for Colombia Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in judo South American Games gold medalists for Colombia South American Games bronze medalists for Colombia South American Games medalists in judo Competitors at the 2006 South American Games Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Competitors at the 2018 South American Games Judoka at the 2019 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Colombia Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in judo Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Valle del Cauca Department 21st-century Colombian women