Maria Pekli

Maria Pekli
Personal information
Born	12 June 1972 (age 52); Baja, Hungary
Occupation	Judoka
Sport
Country	Hungary, Australia
Sport	Judo
Weight class	–57 kg
Rank	5th dan black belt
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games	(2000)
World Champ.	5th (1993, 2003)
Regional finals	(1996); (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008)
Commonwealth Games	(2002)
Medal record
Women's judo
Representing Australia
Olympic Games
Oceania Championships
Commonwealth Games
Representing Hungary
European Championships
European Junior Championships
Profile at external databases
IJF	15909
JudoInside.com	2710
	Updated on 1 June 2023

Maria Pekli (born 12 June 1972 in Baja, Hungary) is an Australian judoka of Hungarian descent. She was Australian Champion in the ‍–‍57 kg division for seven consecutive years, between 1997 and 2003.

She won a bronze medal in the lightweight (57 kg) division at the 2000 Summer Olympics,^[2] the first Australian woman to win an official Olympic Judo medal (although Suzanne Williams won a medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics when Women's Judo was a demonstration sport).

Along with Cuba's Driulys González and Japan's Ryoko Tamura-Tani, Pekli became in 2008 the first female judoka to compete at five Olympics. The only other judokas to compete at five Olympics are Belgian Robert Van de Walle and Puerto Rican judoka-bobsledder Jorge Bonnet.

In 2011, Pekli was awarded Life Membership of Judo Australia for her contribution to the sport at the Australian National Judo Championships.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	5th	Lightweight (57 kg)
2003	World Judo Championships	Osaka, Japan	5th	Lightweight (57 kg)
2002	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, England	1st	Lightweight (57 kg)
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney	3rd	Lightweight (57 kg)
1996	European Judo Championships	The Hague, Netherlands	2nd	Lightweight (56 kg)
1995	European Judo Championships	Birmingham, England	7th	Lightweight (56 kg)
1993	World Judo Championships	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada	5th	Lightweight (56 kg)

References

^ "IJF Dan Grades Awardees" (PDF). International Judo Federation. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Maria Pekli". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.

External links

Maria Pekli at the International Judo Federation
Maria Pekli at JudoInside.com
Maria Pekli at AllJudo.net (in French)
Maria Pekli at Olympics.com
Maria Pekli at Olympedia
Maria Pekli at The-Sports.org
Maria Pekli at databaseOlympics.com (archived)
"Maria Pekli: Aiming high". ABC. 28 July 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2007.

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[1] "IJF Dan Grades Awardees" (PDF). International Judo Federation. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.

[2] Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Maria Pekli". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.

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