Naina Ravaoarisoa

Naina Cécilia Ravaoarisoa (born July 29, 1976 in Antananarivo) is a Malagasy judoka who competed in the women's half-lightweight category.[1] She picked up a total of six medals in her career, including a bronze from the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg, South Africa, and represented her nation Madagascar in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004).[2]

Ravaoarisoa made her official debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she competed in the women's half-lightweight class (52 kg). She lost her opening match to Chinese Taipei's Shih Pei-chun, who successfully scored an ippon victory and crippled her in a scarf hold (kesa gatame) on the tatami with only ninety seconds remaining in the five-minute bout.[3][4]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ravaoarisoa qualified as a lone judoka for her second Malagasy squad in the women's half-lightweight class (52 kg), by placing second and granting a berth from the African Championships in Tunis, Tunisia.[2][5] Like her previous Olympics, Ravaoarisoa denied her chance to edge past the opening round and to compete in the repechage, after crashing out early in a defeat to Belgian judoka and eventual bronze medalist Ilse Heylen by a waza-ari awasete ippon point and a powerful deashi harai throw (advanced foot sweep) just 34 seconds into their match.[6][7]