Yuri Alvear

Yuri Alvear Orejuela (born 29 March 1986) is a Colombian judoka, three times World Champion in her division.

Early life Yuri was born in Jamundí which is a suburb of Cali, the third largest city in Colombia. Her father Arnuy is a builder and mother Miryam is a housewife. She also has a brother, Harvy.

In her youth she competed in water polo, volleyball, handball, athletics. When she was 14 she met Ruperto Guaúña, a judo trainer of Litecom school, who was looking for girls for his judo team. This led to Yuri becoming a judoka.

Yuri began judo late, but she already was already in good physical condition from previous sport so she just needed to learn technical aspects of judo.

She is a close friend with other top Colombian judoka Anny Cortez and sparring partner.

Judo career Alvear won a bronze medal in the under 57 kg division of the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games.

In 2008, she participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing where she placed 7th. She lost to Anaysi Hernández of Cuba in the main draw and then lost a very close match against Leire Iglesias from Spain in the repechage losing her chance to fight for a medal.

In 2009, she won the World Championships in Rotterdam. In the final she gained victory over Anett Mészáros from Hungary and became the third South American judoka to win the title, following Natasha Hernández (of Venezuela) in 1984 and Daniela Krukower (of Argentina) in 2003.

Two weeks before the 2010 Pan American Judo Championships, after training she felt some pain in her left knee. She went to doctor and he found that she had a torn ACL.

In 2012, she won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London, beating Chen Fei of China. This was the first ever Olympic medal for Colombia in Judo.

In 2016, she returned to the Olympic games in Rio and won a silver medal, becoming the 5th Colombian athlete to win two Olympic medals.

Achievements Year Tournament Place Weight class2007 Pan American Judo Championships 1st Middleweight (−70 kg)2008 Pan American Judo Championships 3rd Middleweight (−70 kg)2008 Olympic Games 7th Middleweight (−70 kg)2009 Pan American Judo Championships 1st Middleweight (−70 kg)2009 World Judo Championships 1st Middleweight (−70 kg)2010 South American Games 1st Middleweight (−70 kg)2011 Pan American Judo Championships 3rd Middleweight (−70 kg)2012 Olympic Games 3rd Middleweight (−70 kg)2014 World Judo Championships 1st Middleweight (−70 kg)2015 World Judo Championships 3rd Middleweight (−70 kg)2016 Olympic Games 2nd Middleweight (−70 kg) All results referenced in her JudoInside profile.