The first repechage contest of the afternoon session in Paris belonged to Ai Tsunoda Roustant (ESP). She attacked strongly and more frequently than world champion Saki Niizoe, a really positive attitude and in the end that was enough to see her through to a bronze medal contest at the Olympic Games.
The second repechage contest was much faster, the crowd’s favourite being cheered on from her first step into the arena, but Marie-Eve Gahie really struggled to settle herself today and Willems (BEL) took charge of the contest. Gahie attacked with poor preparation and the Belgian was straight on to her back, turning her and targeting the arm for juji-gatame. At first Gahie seemed to have escaped it but Willems kept hold and found the position; ippon was called! Gahie out!
Butkereit (GER) and Polleres (AUT) faced off in the first of the two semi-finals. It was an all-action contest despite the penalties being collected. Both judoka tried to throw, both continued in ne-waza, neither was scared to engage. Eventually a third shido, in golden score, went to Polleres, sending Butkereit into the final, a first final for Germany at this Games. Polleres would fight for bronze.
Double world champion Barbara Matic (CRO) and Olympic and double world medallist Sanne Van Dijke (NED), two very big names, came out to compete for the second spot in the final. Both aggressive and both looking for ippon, it seemed even at first, until Van Dijke applied what looked like a contest-finishing shime-waza, but Matic held on and resisted the submission. In the very next exchange she took her favourite grip and attacked, first o-uchi, then ko-uchi, back to o-uchi and finished with uchi-mata. It was beautiful, skilful and exactly what is required to reach an Olympic final. Barbara Matic will be Croatia’s first ever Olympic medallist in judo.
In the first bronze medal contest Tsunoda Roustant began perhaps a little more active but Polleres was ready for it, countering for ippon as the Spaniard spun through a full bridge. Polleres has her second Olympic medal.
The second contest for a bronze medal was stacked against Gabriella Willems who faced Sanne Van Dijke but Willems was in full flow. She never hesitated, attacking, defending wisely and throwing for a waza-ari at the halfway point. She continued to be aggressive, working hard in transition to control her opponent and the clock and it worked perfectly. Willems took bronze and Van Dijke had to settle for fifth place.
In the final, Matic took only 20 seconds to get Butkeriet in a hold on the floor and the seconds ticked away, but at 18 Butkereit escaped and the German team let out a sigh of relief. That waza-ari was kept safe until the last second of the contest when Barbara Matic became Croatia’s first ever Olympic medallist and an Olympic champion no less.
After the final Matic said, “After placing fifth in Tokyo I said I must move on from that to train and be motivated to win the medal here in Paris for everyone. My parents and boyfriend are here and I’m so glad I could finally do it in front of them. The dream came true.”
Final (-70 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-70 kg)
