Idalys Ortiz Bocourt (born 27 September 1989) is a Cuban retired[4]judoka.[5] She competed in the over 78 kg division at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics and won a medal on each occasion. She won the silver medal in the women's +78 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.[6][7] She announced her retirement from active sports after falling in the round of 16 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.[4]
Career
Ortiz took up judo at age ten and was included in the national team at 15.[2][8] At the age of 18, she became the youngest Olympic medalist in the heavyweight category, winning a bronze medal in 2008. In 2013 and 2016, she was named Cuban Athlete of the Year. [9]
Beijing Olympics
In her first match at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she stood against a big (170 lb) Egyptian judoka Samah Ramadan. Ramadan stayed and waited for an opportunity to use her possibly only technique, which was immobilizing her opponent by lying on top. During the match, Ortiz tried many techniques for ippon, but none were successful, except for the last move just a few seconds before the end of the match when Samah Ramadan was already tired.
In her second match in Beijing, Ortiz went against Janelle Shepherd from Australia. The match had a good tempo and ended quickly with Ortiz making an ippon (an okuri-eri-jime). In the third match, the semifinals, she went against later Olympic champion and controversial judoka Tong Wen from China. This was a close match full of action and could have gone either way. However, Wen won the match as one of Ortiz's techniques was counted as yuko. Ortiz won the bronze medal in her match against Dorjgotovyn Tserenkhand from Mongolia, winning with a nice ippon (O-goshi).
2012 Summer Olympics
At the 2012 Olympics, Ortiz won the gold medal. She beat Adysângela Moniz with a tsuri-goshi in her first match.[1] She then beat Yelena Ivashchenko before avenging her 2008 defeat by Tong Wen, beating her with a te-guruma.[1] She then beat Mika Sugimoto in the final.[1] She was the first non-Asian winner of the heavyweight category and the first Cuban judo gold medalist in 12 years.[8][2]
Ortiz credits her success to hard training, 7 hours a day, and a regime that involves training against men because of the few women in her weight category.[8]
