Uta Kühnen

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Kuhnen qualified for her second German squad again in the women's half-heavyweight class (78 kg), by placing seventh from the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Unlike her previous Olympics, Kuhnen received a bye in the first round, but slipped her medal chances with a shido penalty, a yuko score, and a kuchiki taoshi hold (single leg takedown) from Cuban judoka and eventual bronze medalist Yurisel Laborde during their second-round match.

Kuhnen made her official debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she competed for the German team in the women's half-heavyweight class (78 kg). She thwarted Gabon's Mélanie Engoang in a sudden-death prelim match, before falling short in her next bout to South Korea's Lee So-yeon, who threw her off the tatami with a double yuko score within four seconds.

Uta Kühnen (born 9 August 1975 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg) is a German judoka who competed in the women's half-heavyweight category. She held three German senior titles in her own division, picked up a total of twenty-nine medals in her career, including a bronze from the 2000 European Judo Championships in Wrocław, Poland, and represented Germany in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004). Kuhnen also trained as a full-fledged member of the judo squad for the Berlin Sports Club under her personal coach and sensei Norbert Littkoff, who also headed the German national team.