| | Event type
Heavyweight (>72 kilograms), Women
| Date | 20 July 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia (Hall H) | |
| Participants | 20 from 20 countries | |
| Format | Two single-elimination pools, with winner of each pool advanced to the final. All judoka losing to the finalists in each pool advanced to repêchage pools, with the winners of the repêchage pools earning bronze medals. | |
Nobody had dominated this event in the past four years and there was no real favorite. The final came down to the 1992 silver medalist, Cuba’s Estela Rodríguez, against China’s Sun Fuming, runner-up at the 1995 Worlds. The match was close with Sun winning by yuko at the time limit. Rodríguez then tested positive for furosemide (Lasix), a diuretic often used as a masking agent, but in an unusual ruling, she was only given a reprimand.
Finishing equal seventh in this class was Brazil’s Edinanci da Silva, who had an interesting road to the Atlanta Olympics. Born with mixed sexual organs, she had an operation only a few months before the Olympics to remove the male sexual organs so she could live and compete as a woman.
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun Fuming |  CHN | Gold | ||
| 2 | Estela Rodríguez |  CUB | Silver | 1 | |
| =3 | Christine Cicot |  FRA | Bronze | ||
| =3 | Johanna Hagn |  GER | Bronze | ||
| =5 | Svetlana Gundarenko |  RUS | |||
| =5 | Beáta Maksymow |  POL | |||
| =7 | Edinanci da Silva |  BRA | |||
| =7 | Son Hyeon-Mi |  KOR | |||
| =9 | Éva Gránitz |  HUN | |||
| =9 | Michelle Rogers |  GBR | |||
| =9 | Nancy Filteau |  CAN | |||
| =9 | Heba Hefny |  EGY | |||
| 13 | Shah Kohli |  IND | |||
| =14 | Marguerite Goualou Yao |  CIV | |||
| =14 | Donata Burgatta |  ITA | |||
| =14 | Yeh Wen-Hua |  TPE | |||
| =14 | Heidi Burnett |  AUS | |||
| =18 | Colleen Rosensteel |  USA | |||
| =18 | Angelique Seriese |  NED | |||
| =18 | Noriko Anno |  JPN |
Pool A (20 July 1996)
Round One (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Edinanci da Silva | BRA | Ippon/Uchi-mata (0:35) | Noriko Anno | JPN |
| Match #2 | Johanna Hagn | GER | Chui/Non-Combativity (4:00) | Angelique Seriese | NED |
Quarter-Finals (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Éva Gránitz | HUN | Ippon/Ushiro-kesa-gatame (3:57) | Marguerite Goualou Yao | CIV |
| Match #2 | Svetlana Gundarenko | RUS | Yuko/Harai-goshi (4:00) | Edinanci da Silva | BRA |
| Match #3 | Sun Fuming | CHN | Shido/Defensive-Posture (4:00) | Michelle Rogers | GBR |
| Match #4 | Johanna Hagn | GER | Yusei-gachi (4:00) | Donata Burgatta | ITA |
Semi-Finals (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Svetlana Gundarenko | RUS | Yusei-gachi (4:00) | Éva Gránitz | HUN |
| Match #2 | Sun Fuming | CHN | Yuko/Seoi-nage (4:00) | Johanna Hagn | GER |
Final Round (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Sun Fuming | CHN | Waza-ari/Seoi-nage (4:00) | Svetlana Gundarenko | RUS |
Repêchage (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Edinanci da Silva | BRA | Ippon/Undetermined (0:28) | Éva Gránitz | HUN |
| Match #2 | Johanna Hagn | GER | Shido/False-Attack (4:00) | Michelle Rogers | GBR |
| Match #3 | Johanna Hagn | GER | Yuko/Seoi-nage (4:00) | Edinanci da Silva | BRA |
| Match 3/4 | Johanna Hagn | GER | Yuko/O-uchi-gari (4:00) | Beáta Maksymow | POL |
Pool B (20 July 1996)
Round One (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 2 | Estela Rodríguez | CUB 3 | Ippon/Harai-goshi (0:30) | Shah Kohli | IND |
| Match #2 | Heidi Burnett | AUS | Ippon/Ura-nage (0:15) | Colleen Rosensteel | USA |
Quarter-Finals (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Nancy Filteau | CAN | Ippon/Tate-shiho-gatame (2:43) | Yeh Wen-Hua | TPE |
| Match #2 4 | Estela Rodríguez | CUB 5 | Waza-ari/O-uchi-gari (4:00) | Son Hyeon-Mi | KOR |
| Match #3 | Heba Hefny | EGY | Ippon/Hane-makikomi (0:13) | Heidi Burnett | AUS |
| Match #4 | Beáta Maksymow | POL | Ippon/O-uchi-gari (0:43) | Christine Cicot | FRA |
Semi-Finals (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 6 | Estela Rodríguez | CUB 7 | Ippon/Harai-goshi (0:12) | Nancy Filteau | CAN |
| Match #2 | Beáta Maksymow | POL | Ippon/Uchi-mata (1:57) | Heba Hefny | EGY |
Final Round (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 8 | Estela Rodríguez | CUB 9 | Ippon/Kesa-gatame (0:54) | Beáta Maksymow | POL |
Repêchage (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Son Hyeon-Mi | KOR | Ippon/Kusure-yoko-shiho-gatame (1:11) | Shah Kohli | IND |
| Match #2 | Son Hyeon-Mi | KOR | Yuko/Harai-goshi (4:00) | Nancy Filteau | CAN |
| Match #3 | Christine Cicot | FRA | Yuko/Uchi-mata (4:00) | Heba Hefny | EGY |
| Match #4 | Christine Cicot | FRA | Ippon/Sukui-nage (2:36) | Son Hyeon-Mi | KOR |
| Match 3/4 | Christine Cicot | FRA | Ippon/Sukui-nage (1:23) | Svetlana Gundarenko | RUS |
Final Round (20 July 1996)
| Match 1/2 10 | Sun Fuming | CHN | Yuko/Ippon Seoi-nage (4:00) | Estela Rodríguez | CUB 11 |