Heavyweight (>100 kilograms), Men

In the men’s heavyweight, the results mirrored the seed list with gold, silver and one of the bronzes going to seres number one, two and three. Fourth seed Hisayoshi Harasawa just narrowly missed a medal, squeezed out by Frenchman Teddy Riner. Lukáš Krpálek from the Czech Republic clinched his second gold after his victory in the half-heavyweight at the 2016 Olympics. He was also seventh at London 2012. In both categories he was a world champion, in the heavyweight in 2019 and half-heavyweight in 2014. Krpálek only required extra time for a Golden Score in his semi-final against Harasawa after 7:59 min. In the final he faced Guram Tushishvili from Georgia, Krpálek’s predecessor as world champion in 2018. Although the Czech was charged with two Shidos (penalties) after less than three minutes into the bout, he returned to win by scoring two Waza-aris (half points) within 20 seconds of the final minute. Tushishvili toppled all his previous opponents by Ippon (full point), and, like Krpálek, required the Golden Score just once, against 2012 and 2016 bronze medallist Rafael Silva in the quarter-final. Third seed Tamerlan Bashayev, Tushishvili’s opponent in the semi-final, won his fight for bronze. Bashayev ousted the favourite, French giant Riner, in the quarter-final. The outcome of this fight was still considered a surprise, regardless of the ranking list, and Bashayev’s silver at the 2021 World Championships.

Riner, however, bronze medallist in 2008 at the age of 19 and gold medallist in 2012 and 2016, secured a bronze medal in the repêchage when Harasawa was disqualified for non-combativity after receiving his third Shido. Riner was definitely one of the most successful judokas of the last decade, winning medals in the heavyweight at four consecutive Olympic Games. In Tokyo, he added yet another gold medal to his tally, winning the mixed team event with France.