Daniela Krukower

Daniela Yael Krukower (דניאלה קרוקובר; born 6 January 1975 in Colegiales, Buenos Aires ) is a former judoka from Argentina.

Krukower was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a Jewish family, and at an early age moved with her family to Israel where Daniela was introduced to Judo.

In the mid 90' Israel judo had two promising female judoka, Einat Yaron and Daniela, both competing in the -63 category.

The two girls were more rivals than they were friends.

Daniela thought Yaron was favoured by the Israel Judo Association and since the IFJ limits each country to one participant in each category at the Olympic Games she decided to represent her birth country Argentina.

In 1997, Krukower won a silver medal in judo at U66 at the 1997 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The highlight of Daniela's career came at the World Judo Championships in Osaka.

In the final she beat, by ippon, Cuban Olympic gold medalist Driulys González.

She was not considered a favourite before the championships, but was a known competitor.

After her win, Daniela became a celebrity in Argentina and a medal hope for the Olympic Games the following year.

Unlike at the World Championships in Osaka, at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Krukower came as big favourite.

She won her first two fights by golden score and in the semi-final she faced Ayumi Tanimoto from Japan.

Early in the fight, following a technique by the Japanese judoka, Daniela broke her hand.

The extent of the injury was serious and Krukower could not continue in tournament.

Driulys González her next potential opponent won the bronze medal without a fight.

In result of the injury the Argentine media call Daniela "Iron Lady".

Krukower went on to compete but managed only continental successes.

In the judo competition at the 2005 Maccabiah Games, she won a silver medal when 17-year-old Alice Schlesinger defeated her in the final.

She retired at beginning of 2009/10 season due to lack of motivation after winning gold at 2009 Pan American Judo Championships.