Lenia Fabiola Ruvalcaba Alvarez

There is only one title left for Lenia Ruvalcaba to win: the Judo World Championships. She had high expectations for Odivelas 2018 but will have to wait four more years as she was beaten by Uzbekistan’s Asian champion Vasila Aliboeva in the semi-finals.

The Mexican recovered to beat Azerbaijan’s Zulfiyya Huseynova for bronze.

Earlier in 2018, Ruvalcaba won gold in the women’s up to 70kg at the Pan American Championships in Calgary, Canada, following a victory over USA’s Rio 2016 bronze medallist Christella Garcia.

Ruvalcaba made her Paralympic debut at Beijing 2008, taking silver after losing to Spanish legend Carmen Herrera in the final.

Three years later, she again climbed onto the second step of the podium, this time at the Guadalajara 2011 Parapan American Games.

An early defeat at the London 2012 Paralympics left her hugely disappointed and with no chance of fighting for a medal. But Ruvalcaba always believed the best was yet to come.

She took bronze at the 2014 World Championships in Colorado Springs, USA, before going on to win the Parapan American title in Toronto, Canada, a year later.

It was in 2016 that she could finally fulfil her biggest dream.

Ruvalcaba took home the Paralympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro against local hope Alana Martins and in front of a loud Brazilian crowd that never stopped cheering for her rival. She was Mexico’s first female judoka to win gold at an Olympic or Paralympic Games.