Deborah Gravenstijn

Dibora Monick Olga "Deborah" Gravenstijn (born 20 August 1974 in Tholen, Zeeland) is a Dutch judoka and Captain in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. She won a bronze medal in the class Women's 57 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a silver medal four years later at the same event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Biography

Early years Gravenstijn started her judo career when she was five years old. Although she and her family lived in Rotterdam they always joined her to tournaments held anywhere within the Netherlands. As soon as Gravenstijn participated in international tournaments, her family was unable to keep up with attending every tournament, however they did whatever they could to support Deborah. In the following years she was unable to retain the title, but still managed to win a bronze (in Haarlem, 1988) and a silver medal (in Heerlen, 1989). Still she finished the year 2004 with a Dutch Championship title in Rotterdam. She was also awarded the Faas Wilkes Trophy. Thanks to one of her main rivals in former years Isabel Fernández who eliminated Inga Kolodziej just four seconds before the end of the game Gravenstijn qualified for the Olympics. The injury almost forced her to miss the Olympics, but Gravenstijn recovered faster than expected. Afterwards Gravenstijn dedicated the medal to her deceased sister and mother as well as to her still living family members.