The first contest of the afternoon session at the Champs-de-Mars was in the repechage between Perisic and Funakubo, double world silver medallist. She was too much for the Serbian in groundwork, though she struggled in tachi-waza. Holding Perisic for ippon, Funakubo secured her opportunity to compete in a medal bout at the Paris Olympic Games.
Liparteliani (GEO) then took just 30 seconds to eliminate Lkhagvatogoo (MGL), throwing right off the mark with full contact. Eteri Liparteliani remains the only Georgian woman to have fought for an Olympic medal, placing 5th in Tokyo in 2021. Now she will have a second chance to take a medal back to Georgia.
In the first semi-final the current world champion, 21 year old Mimi Huh, faced 32 year old Olympic and double world champion Rafaela Silva. The Korean attacked immediately after hajime and almost scored. She attacked and was again deep underneath the Brazilian in the second exchange but Rafael almost held her in the transition phase. Attack three came without pause, another seoi-otoshi from the Korean. The Brazilian was more ready and looked close to countering but had to accept a first penalty for passivity.
After a minute of golden score, Silva’s second penalty was awarded and the Korean athlete showed no signs of slowing down. With more than 6 minutes of contest time under their belts, despite Rafaela Silva being more active on the ground, it was Mimi Huh who turned and held for a waza-ari to reach her first Olympic final, having won the 2024 World Championships only weeks ago.
Christa Deguchi and Sarah Leonie Cysique engaged in an epic battle for the other place in the Olympic final. It became a shido-laden contest but the action was non-stop. Deguchi was much more active in tachi-waza but the French Olympic silver medallist was super strong with the counters and transition phases. Eventually in was decided via a third penalty heading Cysique’s way and Deguchi could at last claim an Olympic medal. Cysique would have to dig deep to fight for bronze.
Sarah Leonie Cysique did dig deep, giving the Georgian absolutely no chance. She countered in the first exchange for waza-ari and shortly after threw with exquisite footwork to score ippon. Cysique won her second Olympic medal, a bronze, at home and in unbelievable style. She clearly woke up on day 3 of this Olympic judo tournament and decided to be a double Olympic medallist!
Funakubo took the other bronze medal at the end of a ten minute debate, one in which either judoka could have found their score at any moment. It was a head dive from Silva which eventually decided it but from a scoreline of 2 penalties apiece.
The final was long, long and difficult; perhaps not the spectacular finish we wanted but it was nail-biting, tense and with no clue as to who might win until the end. When Christa attacked, they were strong but there weren’t so many of them. When Mimi attacked, they were frequent but less well prepared. It was eventually a third penalty for the Korean for a false attack that sent the gold medal, a first ever Olympic gold in judo, to Canada. Deguchi has waited a very long time for the chance to wear the Olympic rings.
Through tears, Christa Deguchi said, “It was so long to get here. I started when I was three and the Olympics was always my dream. Missing Tokyo, this three years felt so long, especially with the intense qualification period. I am very happy to bring back the medal and to be honest, to begin with, any colour was fine but winning the gold is very special.”
Final (-57 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-57 kg)
