Half-Middleweight (≤63 kilograms), Women

The final of the women’s half-middleweight was like a déjà vu of the 2016 Rio Olympics final. On that occasion, Tina Trstenjak from Slovenia overpowered the younger Frenchwoman Clarisse Agbegnenou, with Togolese roots, with an Ippon (full point) after only 1:45 min. In the meantime, Agbegnenou not only ousted Trstenjak from the top of the ranking list but also won all four world titles since the last Olympics to become the dominant fighter in the half-middleweight class. Already a legend, she took her first Olympic gold as expected in Tokyo. The final, however, was not an easy task and she had to go into overtime to defeat Trstenjak with Waza-ari (half point) for the Golden Score after 4:37 min. Both finallists did not sail through the previous rounds too smoothly, with Trstenjak having to sustain one more bout, eliminating not only third seed Anriquelis Barrios but also the eventual bronze medallist Maria Centracchio. Agbegnenou’s strongest opponent on the way into the final was fourth seed Pan-American Champion Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard from Canada. The Québécois lost by a Waza-ari, the only score by either of the fighters. Eventually Beauchemin-Pinard was compensated scoring a Waza-ari in extra time against Barrios to win the bronze medal contest. One of the few surprise judo medallists was 12th seed Maria Centracchio from Italy. With a bit of luck in the quarter-final draw, she faced Agata Ozdoba-Blach from Poland who received three Shidos (penalties) compared to Centracchio’s two. And in her bronze medal match, again her opponent, Juul Franssen from The Netherlands, collected three Shidos for a defeat.