Vanina Paola Sánchez Berón (born March 13, 1979, in

San Martín de los Andes San Martín de los Andes is a city in the south-west of the , serving as the administration centre of the Lácar Department. Lying at the foot of the Andes, on the Lácar lake, it is considered one of the main tourism destinations in the province. ...

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

) is an Argentine

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

practitioner. She is a three-time medalist at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

, and a silver medalist for the 60 kg division at the

1995 World Taekwondo Championships The 1995 World Taekwondo Championships were the 12th edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and were held in Manila, Philippines from November 17 to November 21, 1995, with 598 athletes participating from 77 countries. Medal summary Men ...

Manila, Philippines Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, it is ...

. Sanchez made her official debut for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where she competed in the women's welterweight category (67 kg). She lost the first preliminary match to Philippines' Mary Antoinette Rivero by a superiority decision from the judges, with a score of 10–10. At the

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

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Sanchez qualified for the second time in the women's 67 kg class after winning the championship title from the Pan American Qualification Tournament in

Cali, Colombia Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

. Sanchez improved her performance from the previous games by defeating Turkey's

Sibel Güler Sibel Güler Sağır (born September 28, 1984) is a Turkish taekwondo practitioner. She is a four-time medalist and two-time defending champion at the European Taekwondo Championships since 2004. She also claimed the middleweight division title a ...

in the preliminary round; however, she lost her next match to Canada's

Karine Sergerie Karine Sergerie (born February 1, 1985) is the 2007 world champion in women's lightweight (under 63 kg) taekwondo. She is Canada's first female world champion in the sport. Biography Sergerie was born in Sainte-Catherine, Quebec, Canada. ...

, who was able to score three points at the end of the game. Because Sergerie advanced further into the final match against South Korea's

Hwang Kyung-Seon Hwang Kyung-seon (, born May 21, 1986), also spelled Hwang Kyung-sun, is a female South Korean Taekwondo practitioner. She is a two-time Olympic Champion from 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Olympics In 2008, she won the gold medal in the -67 ...

, Sanchez offered another shot for the bronze medal through the repechage bout, where she was defeated by Australia's Tina Morgan, with a default score of 2–9.

References

External links

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NBC 2008 Olympics profile
Argentine female taekwondo practitioners 1979 births Living people Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Argentina Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Neuquén Province Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games gold medalists in taekwondo Pan American Games silver medalists in taekwondo Pan American Games bronze medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 1995 Pan American Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 1999 Pan American Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2003 Pan American Games World Taekwondo Championships medalists Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century Argentine women {{Argentina-taekwondo-bio-stub