María del Carmen Herrera Gomez (born 26 September 1974 in

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

), commonly known as Carmen Herrera, is a judo athlete from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Personal

Herrera has visual impairment and is a B3 classified sportsperson. In December 2013, she attended an event marking Spanish insurance company

Santa Lucía Seguros Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christma ...

becoming a sponsor of the

Spanish Paralympic Committee Spanish Paralympic Committee (, CPE) is a Spanish non-profit sport organisation founded in 1995, that oversees five national disability sport federations. The organisation has a Secretary General and a President. Since 2005, they have been sup ...

, and consequently

Plan ADOP Plan ADOP () is designed to assist elite disabled sportspeople in Spain to prepare for the Paralympic Games. Created in 2005, it has supported sportspeople competing at the 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2008 Summer Paralympics, 2010 Winter Paralympics a ...

which funds high performance Spanish disability sport competitors. She chose to attend the event because she wanted to show support for this type of sponsorship.

Judo

She competed in judo at the

2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September ...

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

and

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

. She was won a gold in the Up to 70 kg women's group at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Games. In 2013, she was working to qualify for the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

, although she couldn't qualify. In October 2011, she competed in a regional Spanish national vision impaired judo event in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. In November 2013, she competed in the Open Judo Tournament Guadalajara in the women's less than 70 kilos group. She is one of the two female paralympic judokas to win three gold medals in para judo.

References

External links

* 1974 births Living people Spanish female judoka Paralympic judoka for Spain Paralympic gold medalists for Spain Paralympic medalists in judo Visually impaired-category Paralympic competitors Judoka at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Málaga Plan ADOP alumni 21st-century Spanish women Spanish blind people {{Spain-judo-bio-stub