Such is the quality on day three that for the top seeds to finish the day in the order they begin it would blow the collective judo mind. Someone has to fall, surely, don’t they?
The Olympic seedings at -57 kg tell us these should be the quarter-finals:
1 Deguchi (CAN)
8 Perisic (SRB)
4 Cysique (FRA)
5 Funakubo (JPN)
2 Huh (KOR)
7 Gjakova (KOS)
3 Silva (BRA)
6 Liparteliani (GEO)
The semi-finals should therefore be:
Deguchi vs Cysique
and
Huh vs Silva
If the ranking is obeyed fully, the gold medallist should be Christa Deguchi, beating current world champion, the one who beat her in that world final, Mimi Huh. However, within the seeded group, on top of Deguchi’s own two world titles and Huh’s new gold, there are the three junior world titles and two senior world medals of Funakubo, the Olympic and world titles of Silva, the Olympic silver and home-ground advantage of Cysique and the current gold back patch of Gjakova to deal with.
Below them, in the unseeded pool, we find a few names which could really upset the apple cart, most obvious being Daria Bilodid (UKR), herself a double world champion, 4 titles if you include junior and cadet editions. She has taken her time to grow into the category, skipping-52 kg altogether after becoming an indomitable force at -48 kg. She’s lost her two previous rounds with Deguchi and is 1:1 with both Cysique and Silva but she’s in the lead against Huh. She’s yet to compete against Gjakova. Bilodid is the current European champion and has found her rhythm on the World Judo Tour too. Her charge at the Games will put everyone on edge.
The men’s category on day three also offers some heavy hitters. World champions Shavdatuashvili (2021, also Olympic champion in 2012), Hashimoto (2017), Stump (2023) and Heydarov, the current world number 1 (2024) are all in play. They are all in the top 8 in Paris.
The Olympic seedings at -73 kg tell us these should be the quarter-finals:
1 Hidayat Heydarov (AZE)
8 Arthur Margelidon (CAN)
4 Manuel Lombardo (ITA)
5 Daniel Cargnin (BRA)
2 Soichi Hashimoto (JPN)
7 Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO)
3 Nils Stump (SUI)
6 Murodjon Yuldoshev (UZB)
The semi-finals should therefore be:
Heydarov vs Lombardo
and
Hashimoto vs Stump
If the rankings were to be obeyed fully, the gold medallist would be Heydarov, beating 32 year old Hashimoto to the top spot in the final. In Tokyo, at the last Games, only one world champion from the same year made it to Olympic gold and that was Clarisse Agbegnenou. Heydarov will have to do something incredible to peak again so soon after winning his first senior world title in Abu Dhabi only a few weeks ago; it’s not normal, not to be expected, but would be phenomenal to witness.
One fighter whose team really excels when it comes to peaking for the biggest days is Akil Gjakova (KOS). His teammates have been collecting Olympic medals since Rio and he really wants to claim his own. He won the inaugural European Open Championships in December and also medalled at the Bercy and at the senior Europeans this year. He’s capable of big wins but doesn’t always strong them together on a long day. He’s one for one against Cargnin, has beaten Heydarov once, once out of 6 attempts. He’s never beaten Hashimoto but has a 2-1 lead over Lombardo so the draw is all-important when predicting his finishing position.
If not Gjakova, what about three-time African champion Dris (ALG); explosive, fearless, and exciting judo being his M.O. he’s not yet beaten any of the top seeds but there’s a first time for everything and he shouldn’t be overlooked by the analysts.
Only a few days separate them all from finding out if the seeding will be respected.