At 2-1 to Brazil, Italy sent Toniolo out to compete against Silva who threw her for a waza-ari just before half time and then converted it with a juji-gatame. That left Brazil needing just one more win for the match. New Olympic medallist Willian Lima was tasked with dispatching Manuel Lombardo in fight 5 of the match. It took a little more than normal time, the two athletes approaching the contest very differently. Lima attacked a lot but many were poorly prepared and Lombardo had the grips to be able to resist. Lombardo waited more but when he did attack it was strong, just like the final one at 43 seconds into golden score, a throw for ippon.
With the score at 3-2 to Brazil, Italy’s Savita Russo had a big job ahead of her. Still a junior, albeit an experienced one, facing Brazil’s Ketelyn Quadros would not be easy. Just at the end of the first minute Quadros captured a sweet osae-komi. It looked to be all over and the team off the mat were jumping up and down but Russo escaped 3 seconds before the bell, to prolong the encounter. It still looked like Quadros would take it but Russo wasn’t ready to accept that and rolled underneath her to score ippon with a seoi-otoshi, drawing the match at 3-3.
Toniolo, looking uncomfortable after the armlock she lost by, had to fight again. This time the result was the same but faster. Silva went straight in for an uchi-mata and scored waza-ari. It was bronze for Brazil and 5th place for Italy.
The second bronze medal match was fought by Korea and Germany. Paris Olympic medallist Joonhwan Lee could have been a safe guess for the winner of the first match but Trippel, Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo, had other ideas. He qualified among the very last judoka for this Olympic Games and didn’t have a good day in the individuals but in the medal match at the mixed team event, he made up for it, throwing Lee twice. The lead didnt last as Hayun Kim then threw Renee Lucht for ippon in less than a minute. Minjong Kim then stepped up to Abramov, the Korean holding all predictions. He stuck to the plan and held, throwing and holding Abramov to take the lead for Korea.
It wasn’t long before the score changed, stretching the Korean lead. Huh pinned Starke for ippon to go to 3-1. Igor Wandtke was tasked with stopping the Korean win, facing An to do it. Having been the man who beat Ono at the Tokyo 2021 mixed team event, there was a confidence in his ability but double Olympic medallist Baul An wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Wandtke met expectations but took 9 and a half minutes to do it, leaving Miriam Butkereit to earn the essential 3rd point for Germany to tie the match. She did it too!
The tiebreak would be the make-or-break for both teams. The closest contest in normal time was the -73 kg bout between An and Wandtke. Surely they couldn’t do another 9 and a half minutes, but they were selected and the golden score contest began. It was faster, significantly! A win on penalties and an emotional final point for Korea to earn an Olympic mixed team bronze.
In the final the first contest drawn was at -90 kg between Paris Olympic silver medallist Sanshiro Murao (JPN) and Paris Olympic bronze medallist Maxime-Gael Ngayap Hambou. The Frenchman held nothing back, putting Murao under a great deal of pressure, but Murao is just so sharp and caught him with his left uchi-mata for ippon 9 seconds into golden score. Dicko should do better against Takayama but the Japanese gameplan worked perfectly, moving non-stop and catching Dicko with an o-uchi-gari for waza-ari when Dicko believed she had control from the top. Despite two penalties being given Takayama’s way, the fight was won with that score, making the final of the match result far more uncertain than it was before.
Teddy did exactly what was required though, dominating Saito throughout and eventually throwing him for ippon 2 minutes into golden score with a huge uchi-mata. The scorebaord now showed 2-1 to Japan.
Tsunoda versus Cysique is not a fight we ever thought we'd see but we did, here in Paris in the team event. Newly crowned -48 kg champion Natsumi Tsunoda attacked 3 times before Cysqiue could get off her marks, such is the speed of Tsunoda's tomoe-nage. On the fifth attempt, Cysique didn't so much defend as brace and was thrwon for ippon; an inspired selection by Japan who could have put Abe or Funakubo in her place.
France were in big trouble and next up were double -66 kg Olympic champion Hifumi Abe for Japan and Olympic medallist at -73 kg Joan-Benjamin Gaba for France. What a fight it was, surely one of the greatest contests we have ever seen. Almost 9 minutes of fighting time saw both Abe and Gaba deliver a masterclass in biomechanics and resilience, truly incredible. It was Gaba who stunned the crowd after dozens of near misses on both sides, throwing Abe for ippon with kata-guruma. It is rare that we ever see Hifumi Abe pushed to his limits, perhaps we have never seen it before but this extraordinary contest was just maginifcent from both fighters and they delivered the kind of judo the whole world wants to see.
Clarisse Agbegnenou was gifted the chance to pull things level for France, thanks to Gaba's persistence and timing. Up against old rival Takaichi, it was another dynamic battle, the crowd driving it along with several renditions of La Marseillaise. Clarisse followed the plan and threw for ippon with a left sided makikomi, saving France from defeat. She evened the scores and left it all up to the random draw; one my fight, one more incredible fight.
As the +90 kg category clicked on to the screen, the tension rose yet again, at a time when everyone was certain the energy had peaked. In Paris there is no limit to what we can feel! Another 6 minutes of heavyweight judo between Tatsuru Saito, a fantatsic young judoka who still has more development to do to fully grasp his destiny, and Teddy Riner, an athlete now elevated into the highest echelons of world sport; Bolt, Pele, Comaneci, Federer and Riner, no arguments!
Let's not wait too long for the outcome; Teddy did it again. Gaba and Clarisse gave him the opportunity and he grabbed it and finished the Olympic Games with a huge ippon and the team gold for the hosts. If fairy tales were judo-based...
1. France
2. Japan
3. Brazil
3. Republic of Korea
