Half-Lightweight (≤52 kilograms), Women

Even though Majlinda Kelmendi was second of the ranking list, and was World Champion in 2013 and 2014, her victory in the women’s 52 kg class still made headlines. Born an ethnic Albanian in Kosovo, when it was still part of Serbia, she had to compete for Albania in 2012. Alhough still not recognized by many countries after declaring independence, the NOC of Kosovo was acknowledged by the IOC in 2014. This paved the way for Kelmendi to compete for her home country. Her gold medal was Kosovo’s first Olympic medal of any colour.

Early in the competition, she met Christianne Legentil from Mauritius, to whom she had lost in 2012. Again she had to struggle, but eventually defeated the African on penalties. In the semi-final Kelmendi had another tough fight, when she edged out three-time World Champion Misato Nakamura by just one penalty. In the final against Italy’s Odette Giuffrida she scored a Yuko after 29 seconds, which was enough to clinch the gold. Giuffrida’s silver came as a bigger surprise than Kelmendi’s gold. Her only previous international medal was a bronze at the 2015 European Games, but she advanced to the Rio final after defeating the top ranked Romanian Andreea Chițu. As at Beijing in 2008, Nakamura had to take consolation with a bronze medal alongside Russian Nataliya Kuzyutina. In the elimination round, Nakamura defeated Kuzyutina in the longest bout with an Ippon (full point) 3:39 minutes into the Golden Score period.

Allegations were raised that Joud Fahmy of Saudi Arabia deliberately forfeited her first-round match against Legentil to avoid meeting Israeli Gili Cohen in the second round. These were rejected by Saudi Arabian officials stating that Fahmy was injured and advised by medical staff not to compete.