María Espinoza

María Espinoza

Espinoza with her silver medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name	María del Rosario Espinoza
Nickname(s)	Chayito
Nationality	Mexico
Born	(1987-11-27) November 27, 1987 (age 29) La Brecha, Sinaloa, Mexico
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Sport
Sport	Taekwondo
Medal record Women’s Taekwondo Representing  Mexico Olympic Games 2008 Beijing +67 kg 2016 Rio de Janeiro +67 kg 2012 London +67 kg World Championships 2007 Beijing Middleweight Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro +67 kg 2015 Toronto +67 kg Central American and Caribbean Games 2010 Mayagüez -73 kg 2014 Veracruz -73 kg 2006 Cartagena -67 kg

María del Rosario Espinoza, (born November 27, 1987 in La Brecha, Sinaloa) is a Mexican taekwondo practitioner.

Espinoza is one of the two women from Mexico that has won an Olympic gold medal, the other was Soraya Jiménez.

Espinoza was born on 27 November 1987 in La Brecha, Sinaloa. Her father is a fisherman and mother a homemaker. She began practicing taekwondo at age five.

Espinoza won her first international competition in taekwondo at the 2003 Pan American Youth Championship in Rio de Janeiro. Later she participated in Open tournaments in Canada, France, and Germany.

She won the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships in Middleweight (–72 kg) category defeating Lee In-Jong and also won the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Heavyweight (+67 kg) winning over Brazilian Natália Falavigna.

She participated in +67 kg weight class in the 2008 Beijing starting with a victory over Tunisian Khaoula Ben Hamza by a score of 4-0, later she beat Swedish Karolina Kedzierska 4-2. In semifinals she qualified to the final defeating British former world champion and eventual Bronze medal winner Sarah Stevenson by 4-1 and culminate winning the gold medal passing over Norwegian Nina Solheim, earning the second gold for Mexico in the Olympics

In 2012, María returned to the Olympics in London. She carried the flag for Mexico during the Parade of Nations and won a bronze medal. In Rio 2016, Espinoza won a silver medal to become the first female Mexican athlete to earn an Olympic medal in three different Olympic Games, and the second Mexican athlete to earn Olympic medals in three consecutive editions. She carried Mexico's flag at the closing ceremony in 2016.