Famous judoka born on the first day of February

A lot of famous athletes were born on the 1st of February. One of the best, if not the best ever Spanish judoka is Isabel Fernández who turned 50 today. We picked out the most remarkable athletes of all times born on the first day of February.

Isabel Fernandez is the 2000 Olympic Champion of Sydney and she took Olympic bronze in 1996. She was born in Alicante and became the 1997 World Champion. Fernandez is 6 times European Champion 1998-2007, 13 medals. She is board member of the Spanish NOC. She married her coach Javier Alonso.

Scottish judo coach Sally Conway (35) made her international debut as a coach last weekend as coach of Sweden at the Grand Prix in Portugal. Sally took an Olympic bronze medal in Rio 2016 for Great Britain. She captured bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo. Conway started her career with a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in 2006. Won more than 7 national titles. Grand Slam bronze in Paris in 2016 and gold in 2018. She won the Grand Prix in The Hague in 2018 and gold at the Grand Slam in Düsseldorf in 2019. Sally bagged European silver in 2018 and 28 World Cup medals. Conway now took the of the Swedish team together with assistant coach Viktor Carlsson.

Kifayat Gasimova of Azerbaijan (39) was 2004 European U23 Champion. 2008 European bronze medallist in Lisbon. 3 European Championships medals 2006-2008

Very athletic French heavyweight. Anne-Sophíe Mondíère (43) is 5 times European Champion 2004-2008. She won three World Championships medals and was 7th at 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She won 5 national titles.

Mihael Zgank became 28 today. He was World Championships silver medallist in 2017 in Budapest for Slovenia and finished fifth at the 2020 Olympic Games. He won bronze medals at European Junior and U23 Championships. Zgank won a bronze medal at the Grand Prix in Tashkent in 2015 and silver at Grand Slam Brasilia in 2019. He won bronze at the Grand Slam in Paris in 2017 and at the GP Düsseldorf. He switched to Turkey as Mikail Ozerler and won the European Games in Minsk. Ozerler clinched the gold at the Grand Prix in Antalya in 2019. Later he changed his name back to Zgank.

Artem Bloshenko (37) won gold U100kg at the Grand Prix in Havana in 2016. He was 2007 European U23 Champion for Ukraine. He won a Junior European medal in 2004 in Sofia. Bloshenko participated at the London Olympic Games. He was European Open Team Champion in Istanbul in 2011 with Ukraine. He finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Rio.

Estonian judoka Grigori Minaskin (31) won the EYOD, now EYOF in Belgrade in 2007 and the European Cadet title in 2007. In 2016 he started well with gold at the African Open in Tunis, his first gold among 7 World Cup medals. Minaskin won silver at the PanAm Open in Lima and Buenos Aires in 2016. He captured bronze at the Grand Prix in Tel Aviv in 2019. He captured a silver medal at the Grand Prix in Budapest in 2019. He claimed a bronze medal at the European Open in Tallinn in 2019. He bagged a bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Antalya in 2021.

Andreas Preschel (61), born in East Germany was the 1983 World Champion of Moscow. Preschel won bronze at the European Championships in 1985 in Hamar. He won international events in Lund (SWE), Leipzig and Lovetch. He was East German champion U95kg in 1983 and 1985. He won European Junior silver in 1980.

American Judoka Ronda Rousey (35) won the 2008 Olympic bronze medal in Beijing and 2007 World Championships finallist U70kg. After judo she became MMA Superstar and acted in Expendables 3, Entourage and Furious 7. The 2004 World Junior Champ in judo. Rousey gave her UFC 190 belt to Flavio Canto’s school. She became a mother last year and is getting back now to make her comeback in the WWE soon.