With Xu at 5th on the Olympic ranking list ahead of Antalya, her teammate Xin Su, ranked 8th, had some work to do to allow her chance to qualify the Games to stay alive. Su did her job and did it well, throwing Ozdemir with a very fast osoto-gari inside the first minute. A hold cemented the win to put China’s number 2 into this grand slam semi-final.
Elsewhere, Serbia’s Milica Zabic is patient in the extreme. She works and works, one of the smallest women in the category, getting better at what she does at every outing. Her seoi-otoshi attacks are becoming more effective as the months pass, even against the strongest athletes. This is not a technique usually synonymous with the heavyweights but she does it well. Additionally she has a great feeling for positioning in ne-waza. Having held her Turkish opponent in round 2 she was then thrown by Diacenco (MDA) before again finding her balance on the floor to hold for ippon. Against Kim (KOR), the number 2 seed, she went back to the seoi-otoshi and scored with it immediately but couldn’t keep the quality going throughout and eventually succumbed to a loss on penalties as the seoi attacks became less and less well prepared. Kim obeyed the ranking and moved into a semi-final.
In pool D the two French heavyweights would have to fight for a single semi-final place. They saw off all challengers to meet in their predicted quarter-final and it was Julia Tolofua who felt the relief of success, dismissing Fontaine fairly comfortably on penalties. She continued past Kim and went on to the final.
The other semi-final was China vs Türkiye round 3, Xin Su seeing off Ozturk almost immediately after ‘hajime,’ with a throw straight into a hold, all done and dusted in just 25 seconds. The fourth and final contest for these two flags was in the repechage, Xu and Ozdemir fighting for a place in the final block, each knowing their compatriot was already there. Ozdemir took that win to set up a bronze medal contest with Hayun Kim.
The home nation held their breath throughout the contest. Ozdemir threw with a lovely ko-soto-gake early on and had to work hard and intellignetly to avoid being thrown by the Korean. She did earn herself two penalties but tactically and in a well timed way, allowing her single score to be the difference between bronze and 5th place. Turkiye cheered
The second bronze medal would go to either Fontaine (FRA) or Ozturk. Having seen her teamamte take the first bronze it became even more important for Ozturk to perform here and she did everything for the right result, attacked first in each exchange, reacted fast in transition and stuck to her plan. It was a tough contest but she took the win in the end to join Ozdemir on the podium.
The final between Su and Tolofua was all-action right from the first seconds. Su began with a ko-soto-gake, avoided by the French judoka, both moving at high speed. Technical gripping and a variety of attacks continued until Julia Tolofua made a play for gold and threw the Chinese athlete for ippon with one of the best uchi-mata's one could hope to see.
Final (+78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (+78 kg)
Final Results (+78 kg)
