Rachida Ouerdane

Career

Ouerdane made her official debut for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she lost the first preliminary match of women"s middleweight class (70 kg), with a waza-ari (half-point) and a kosoto gake (small outer hook), to China"s Qin Dongya. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Ouerdane competed for the second time in the women"s 70 kg class. She received a bye for the second preliminary round, before losing out by a waza-ari to Netherlands" Edith Bosch.

Unfortunately, she finished only in ninth place, after losing out the second repechage bout to United States" Ronda Rousey, who successfully scored an ippon and a kuzure-kesa-gatame (broken scarf mat hold), in two minutes.

Achievements

• She is a three-time champion at the African Judo Championships, and a two-time medalist at the Mediterranean Games. She also won a gold medal in the same division at the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers.