Mayra Aguiar

Mayra Aguiar da Silva (born August 3 1991) is a Brazilian judoka. She was a bronze medallist in three consecutive Olympics, 2012, 2016 and 2020. She is also three-time world champion (2014, 2017 & 2022). She is the first Brazilian woman to win three Olympic medals in an individual sport, being the best female judoka in the history of Brazil.

Aguiar was born in Porto Alegre and began judo training when she was young.

Aguiar trains under Kiko (Antônio Carlos Pereira) in a group with João Derly in SOGIPA. Derly and Camilo are also her sporting idols.

2006–2008
At 15 years old, he won a bronze at the 2006 World Judo Juniors Championships.

At the 2007 Pan American Judo Championships, she won a silver medal.

When she was still 15 years old, she competed at 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and won a silver medal, losing in the final to future UFC champion Ronda Rousey.

At the 2008 Pan American Judo Championships held in Miami, she became champion of this competition for the first time, obtaining the gold medal.

2008 Summer Olympics
In 2008, Aguiar competed at Olympic Games in Beijing but lost her only match with Spanish judoka Leire Iglesias.

After the 2008 Summer Olympics
At the 2008 World Judo Juniors Championships, she won a silver medal.

In December 2008, Aguiar suffered a serious injury to her right knee. She was unable to perform any judo training for almost ten months, coming back only in September 2009.

2009–2012
After spending ten months away from the mat due to knee surgery, in October 2009, Aguiar won the bronze medal in the 78 kg category at the 2009 World Judo Juniors Championships in Paris.

In 2010, after the injury, Aguiar changed category from middleweight to half-heavyweight and won a gold medal at 2010 Pan American Championships in El Salvador. At the 2010 Judo Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro (Grand Slam is the tournament that gives the most points in the judo ranking after the Olympic Games, the World Championships and the World Masters), she defeated the French number 1 in the 78 kg category, Celine Lebrun, and reached the bronze medal. In September of that same year, she participated at the 2010 World Championships and lost the final to Kayla Harrison from the United States, receiving the silver medal. By winning gold at the 2010 World Judo Juniors Championships in Agadir, Mayra became the athlete with the most medals in the competition of all time.

At the 2011 Judo Grand Slam Paris, Aguiar won a bronze medal. At the 2011 Pan American Judo Championships she won a silver medal. At the 2011 Judo Grand Slam Moscow, Aguiar won a bronze medal. She won gold at the 2011 Judo Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro defeating Kayla Harrison. At the 2011 World Judo Championships, Aguiar won the bronze medal. She was only defeated in the semifinals by world No. 1, Japanese Akari Ogata. At the age of 20, at the 2011 Pan American Games, she faced, in her second fight, the American Kayla Harrison, the main candidate for gold, losing but later obtaining the bronze medal in the competition. She ended the year by obtaining a bronze medal in the 2011 Judo Grand Slam Tokyo.

At the beginning of 2012, she won her first title in World Masters (the second most important competition on the judo circuit after the World Championships). At the age of 20, she won the gold medal at the 2012 Judo World Masters held in Almaty. After winning the 2012 Judo Grand Slam Paris, she took first place in the world rankings in the under-78 kg category. It was the first time that a Brazilian woman topped the ranking created by the IJF in 2009. She became three-time champion of the Pan American Judo Championship, at the 2012 Pan American Judo Championships in Montreal.

2012 Summer Olympics
In 2012, Aguiar won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning three matches by ippon. Her only defeat was again to Harrison, who won the semifinal on the way to a gold medal.

2013–2016
Mayra won gold again at the 2013 Pan American Judo Championships, becoming four-time champion. In 2013, Aguiar obtained another Masters gold by winning the 2013 Judo World Masters in Tyumen. With this, she was once again number 1 in the world rankings. At the 2013 Judo Grand Slam Moscow, she won a silver medal. At the 2013 World Judo Championships, held in Rio de Janeiro, she obtained a bronze in her 78 kg category and a silver with the Brazilian women's team.

After the 2013 World Championships, she only returned to competition in July 2014, at the 2014 Judo Grand Slam Tyumen, where she won four matches and secured the gold medal, defeating her rival Kayla Harrison. Aguiar became world champion for the first time in 2014, defeating the French Audrey Tcheuméo in the final.

Aguiar didn't fight for 8 months after winning the world title, until she entered the 2015 Pan American Judo Championships and became five-time champion of the tournament. At the 2015 Pan American Games, she won a silver medal. In November, she also won the silver medal at the 2015 Judo Grand Slam Abu Dhabi.

In February 2016, Aguiar won the gold medal at the 2016 Judo Grand Slam Paris, becoming two-time champion of this tournament and defeating the American Kayla Harrison, her biggest rival in the category, by ippon in the final. It was the second time she won the French Grand Slam defeating Harrison. At this point, she had the advantage in retrospect against Harrison (eight victories in 15 clashes). At the 2016 Pan American Judo Championships in Havana, in a new final Aguiar x Harrison, the American tied the match between the two, leaving Aguiar with the silver. In the final of the 78 kg category of the 2016 Judo World Masters, the 17th duel between Aguiar and Harrison took place, where the American applied an armbar (juji-gatame) in the final minute, winning the fight. Aguiar won the silver medal, her third Masters medal.

2016 Summer Olympics


With Brazil hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics and Aguiar's recent triumphs, she was the favorite to win the gold. A difficult semi-final against Tcheuméo, where Aguiar was kept scoreless and was defeated on penalties, sent her again to the bronze match, which Aguiar won, giving her a second Olympic medal.

2017–2021


After the 2016 Olympic Games, Mayra took a period of time to rest and focus on training. She returned on June 2017, winning the 2017 Judo Grand Prix Cancún in Mexico. In her second competition of the year, the 2017 World Judo Championships, she defeated two Japanese in a row to become two-time world champion. This year, she also won bronze in the 2017 Judo Grand Slam Abu Dhabi.

In March 2018, she had reached the podium in the two competitions she had competed in that year: in February, she took silver at the 2018 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf, and in March, she took bronze at the 2018 Judo Grand Slam Ekaterinburg, occupying second place in the world rankings at that time. When she won silver in the 2018 Judo Grand Prix Hohhot, she was already the leader of the world rankings again. In 2018 she even won silver in the 2018 Judo Grand Prix Cancún.

In 2019, Aguiar won gold at the 2019 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf and silver at the 2019 Judo Grand Slam Ekaterinburg. At the 2019 Pan American Judo Championships, she became six-time champion of the tournament. She was champion of the 2019 Judo Grand Prix Budapest in July. When she was leader of the world rankings in the 78 kg category, Aguiar, aged 28, won her first gold medal at the Pan American Games, at the 2019 Pan American Games, in Lima, Peru. And at the 2019 Judo World Championships, Aguiar won the bronze medal, the Brazilian's sixth medal at the world championships. With this, Aguiar isolates herself as the greatest Brazilian female medalist in the history of the world championships.

In early 2020, Aguiar won a silver medal at the 2020 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf.

2020 Summer Olympics


In 2021, Aguiar won one of the bronze medals in the women's 78 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

2022–2024
After the return of world sports competitions, Mayra achieved great results in 2022. In April, at 2022 Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships, she became seven-time champion of the tournament. She obtained the silver of the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Tbilisi in june, the bronze of the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Budapest and the bronze of the 2022 Judo Grand Prix Zagreb, in july. In October 2022, she made history by becoming the first Brazilian three-time judo world champion, at the 2022 World Judo Championships. In the quarter-finals, she defeated German Alina Boehm, current European champion. In the semifinals, she defeated Hamada Shori, the current Olympic champion, by ippon. The gold was won against Chinese Zhenzhao Ma. And, at the end of the year, when she was 2nd in the world rankings in her category, she won a bronze in the 2022 Judo World Masters in Jerusalem, thus returning to the lead in the world rankings.

After the 2022 Masters, Aguiar was away from competition for nine months, to rest and treat minor injuries. She returned in September 2023, at the Pan American Judo Championship. At the 2023 Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships, held in Calgary, Canada, she became eight-time champion of the competition. Still in September, she was a bronze medalist at the 2023 Judo Grand Slam Baku, and in December, she secured an unprecedented gold for Brazilian judo by winning the 2023 Judo Grand Slam Tokyo. The only Brazilian champion in Japan until then was Sergio Pessoa, who won the Jigoro Kano Cup in 1986, in a different format than the current one.