Well launched, Van Dijke earned another victory against Lea Schmid (GER), after a first waza-ari with o-uchi-gari and an ippon from an immobilisation. Two seoi-otoshi later against Coralie Godbout (CAN) and the Dutch judoka qualified for the final. It was a flawless run.
Everything suggested that we could possibly see an all-Dutch final, with Lieke Derks (NED) also putting in a good performance, but in the semi-final she was surprised by Karla Prodan, thus offering another medal to the host country. It remained to be seen what colour it would be.
In the final, normal time ended with only one shido apiece. Heavily supported by the public, Prodan was pushing for gold, but so was Van Dijke. After one minute of additional time, another penalty was given to both judoka. No more mistakes could be allowed. Unfortunately for Prodan, she applied a kawazu-gake while trying to counter-attack Van Dijke and was penalised a third time, offering the victory to the Dutch judoka.
The first contest for the bronze medal was between Lea Schmid (GER) and Lieke Derks (NED). Derks scored first with an o-soto-gari for waza-ari and did it again a little later.
Liz Ngelebeya (FRA) and Coralie Godbout (CAN) faced off to complete the podium. Ngelebeya was disqualified for using her head to throw. Bronze medal for Godbout.
Final (-78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-78 kg)
