He certainly was, as after a masterfully executed contest, Luka Mkheidze qualified for his fourth grand slam final. After the energy he displayed in the previous round, the Olympic medallist proved he was already in excellent physical condition at the start of the new Olympic cycle.
In Pool C, it was the Brazilian Michel Augusto who came out on top after his victories against Vache Adamyan (AUT) and then Enzo Jean (FRA) to reach the semi-final where he faced an outsider, Tornike Maziashvili (GEO), strongly encouraged by his public. Their cheers were not enough though and Augusto joined Mkheidze in the final.
In the final, as both judoka entered the last minute of normal time there was only one shido apiece on the scoreboard. It was time for another golden score, that Mkheidze expected to be shorter than the previous one. It was actually only a bit shorter but still very tiring. Eventually the French judoka managed to throw Augusto with a counter-attack for waza-ari. Luka Mkheidze had to work very hard all day long but the victory will taste event better tonight. This is gold medal number four in a grand slam for him.
The first bronze medal contest saw Jonathan Charon (CUB) facing Tornike Maziashvili (GEO). It was a touch contest, with no-one capable of throwing during normal time. In the golden score period, there was confused action that didn't initially score but Tornike Maziashvili took his chance and applied a shime-waza to his opponent. That's where the video review came into play and proved that Jonathan Charon had hooked Maziashvili's leg during the throw. The ippon was cancelled and waza-ari awarded to the Cuban judoka to win the bronze medal.
Emiel Jaring (NED) and Ariunbold Enkhtaivan (MGL) faced off in the second bronze medal contest. We had to wait until golden score after a very tight contest, to see Jaring score a waza-ari with a sumi-gaeshi to take the bronze medal.
Final (-60 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-60 kg)
