Heavyweight (>78 kilograms), Women

France’s first of two gold medals that came on the last day of the judo competition in Rio was claimed by Émilie Andéol in the women’s +78 kg class. Andéol had to go into the Golden Score period in her first two bouts, but in the semi-final, she showed her potential by beating top-seeded Yu Song from the PR of China by Ippon (full point) with Ouchi-gari (big inner reap) after 3:06 min. The semi-finals were made up of the four highest ranked judokas in the field, with Idalys Ortíz from Cuba and Japan’s Kanae Yamabe meeting in the second semi-final. The reigning Olympic champion and two-time world Champion Ortíz, edged out Yamabe by just one Yuko (advantage), scored in the last minute. In the final both Andéol and Ortíz, 10 cm taller and about 20 kg heavier than the Frenchwoman, had no score other than one Shido penalty each for non-combativity after the regular four minutes of the fight. But 3:11 min into the Golden Score, Andéol applied a decisive Yoko-shiho-gatame (side four-corner hold) for an Ippon in the ground fight. The two bronze medals went to the East Asian beaten semi-finalists; Yamabe and the 2015 World Champion Yu.