Cuban judoka Idalys Ortiz won her fourth gold medal in the Pan American Games this Monday in Santiago 2023.
The standard bearer of the Cuban delegation in the continental event ratified herself as one of the best judoists in history, by winning in the division of more than 78 kilograms, in which she already had gold in Guadalajara 2011, Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019.
The four-time Olympic medalist (gold in London 2012, silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and bronze in Beijing 2008) defeated the Colombian Brigitte Carabalí by disqualification, in a duel in which there was very little action.
In this way, the double world champion joined another legend of that discipline, her compatriot Driulis González, the only one with four Pan American judo titles, in her case won in Mar del Plata 1995, Winnipeg 1999, Santo Domingo 2003 and Rio de Janeiro 2007.
Cuba was the most successful nation on this day, as it added the titles of Ivan Felipe Silva (90 kilograms) and Andy Granda (over 100), both to repeat their Lima 2019 crowns.
The other two winners of the day were the Brazilian Samanta Soares (78) and the Canadian Shady Elnahas, who surprised the host Tomás Briceño by defeating him in the category of up to 100 kilograms.
Tomorrow will conclude the actions in this discipline, with elimination rounds and finals in the mixed team competition, in which each team will line up three representatives per sex who will face each other in their respective categories.
