Maria Pekli

Medal record
Women's judo
Olympic Games
Bronze	2000 Sydney	57 kg
European Championships
Competitor for  Hungary
Silver	1996 The Hague	57 kg
Commonwealth Games
Competitor for  Australia
Gold	2002 Manchester	57 kg

Maria Pekli (born 12 June 1972 in Baja, Hungary) is an Australian judoka of Hungarian descent. She was Australian Champion in the u/57 kg division for seven consecutive years, between 1997-2003.

She won a bronze medal in the lightweight (57 kg) division at the 2000 Summer Olympics, the first Australian woman to win an official Olympic Judo medal (although Sue Williams won a medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics when Women's Judo was a demonstration sport).

Along with Cuba's Driulys González and Japan's Ryoko Tamura-Tani, Pekli became in 2008 the first female judoka to compete at five Olympics. The only other judokas to compete at five Olympics are Belgian Robert Van de Walle and Puerto Rican judoka-bobsledder Jorge Bonnet.

In 2011, Pekli was awarded Life Membership of Judo Australia for her contribution to the sport at the Australian National Judo Championships.

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Place	Weight class
2008	Olympic Games	5th	Lightweight (57 kg)
2003	World Judo Championships	5th	Lightweight (57 kg)
2002	Commonwealth Games	1st	Lightweight (57 kg)
2000	Olympic Games	3rd	Lightweight (57 kg)
1996	European Judo Championships	2nd	Lightweight (56 kg)
1995	European Judo Championships	7th	Lightweight (56 kg)
1993	World Judo Championships	5th	Lightweight (56 kg)

References

• Factfile on JudoInside.com
• Videos of Maria Pekli (judovision.org)
• "Maria Pekli: Aiming high". ABC. 28 July 2004. http://abc.net.au/olympics/2004/profiles/maria_pekli.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-11. 
• Database Olympics

Persondata
Name	Pekli, Maria
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	12 June 1972
Place of birth	Baja
Date of death
Place of death