Céline Lebrun ( French: Céline Lebrun ; August 25, 1976 , Paris ) - French judoist of the light heavyweight category, played for the French team in the late 1990s - early 2010s. Participant of two summer Olympic Games, silver medalist of the Sydney Olympics, champion of Europe and the world, winner of many tournaments of national and international importance.
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| Citizenship |  France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of Birth | August 25, 1976 (42 years old) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of Birth | Paris , France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Growth | 169 cm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight category | light heavy (up to 78 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Biography
Celine Lebrun was born on August 25, 1976 in Paris . She began to actively engage in judo from early childhood, was trained in Orleans at the local sports club USO judo.
The first serious success at the adult international level was in 1997, when she got into the main squad of the French national team and visited the European Championships in Ostend, Belgium, from where she brought the bronze dignity award won in the heavy weight category. A year later, at the European Championship in Spain, Oviedo became the silver medalist in the light heavyweight classification - the only defeat here was from the Spanish Esther San Miguel . A year later, at similar competitions in Bratislava, she defeated all her rivals in the same category and thereby won a gold medal. In addition, in the 1999 season, she performed at the World Championships in English Birmingham, where she received bronze.
In 2000, at the European Championship in Poland, Wroclaw, Lebrun defended her light heavyweight championship and, thanks to a series of successful performances, was awarded the right to defend the country's honor at the Sydney Summer Olympics . She managed to reach the finals, consecutively defeating three rivals, however, in the decisive match, she lost to Chinese woman Tang Lin and was forced to be content with a silver Olympic award.
At the 2001 European Home Championships in Paris, Lebrun was again the best in her weight division, while at the World Championships in German Munich she went up twice on the podium: she took bronze in the light heavyweight category and gold in absolute. The following season, she won the European Championship title for the fourth time in a row, defeating all rivals in competitions in Slovenian Maribor. However, in 2003, her series of victories at the European championships was interrupted when at the tournament in Dusseldorf she lost to the German Jenny Karl in the quarter-finals and received bronze.
Being among the leaders of the French national team, she successfully qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens . This time, she won two rivals and lost in the semifinal to Japanese Noriko Anno . In a comforting meeting for third place, she was defeated by the representative of Cuba, Yurisel Laborde, and settled down in the final protocol on the fifth line.
After the Athens Olympics, Celine Lebrun remained in the main part of the judo team of France and continued to take part in major international tournaments. So, in 2005, she regained the title of European champion by winning the European Championship in Rotterdam, and also added to the track record a bronze award received at the World Cup in Cairo. A year later, she became the silver medalist of the European Championship in Finnish Tampere, where she lost to the Russian woman Vera Moskalyuk in the finals. The last time showed any significant result in the international arena in the 2011 season, when she won the silver medal at the master's tournament in Baku. Soon after the end of these competitions, she decided to end the career of a professional athlete, losing her place in the national team to young French judokas.
Links
- Celine Lebrun - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
- Celine Lebrun - profile on judoinside.com