Lightweight (≤56 kilograms), Women

Spain’s Míriam Blasco had won the 1991 World Championships and been third at the 1989 Worlds. She was very popular in front of the Spanish crowd. In the final she faced Britain’s Nicola Fairbrother, whom she had defeated at the 1991 Worlds in the pool final. The final was not without a hint of controversy as the Spaniard appeared to be on the point of losing consciousness when the referee ordered Fairbrother to release her from a chokehold. Blasco went on to win the gold medal with a yuko on a counter-attack, surviving later further counter-attacks by Fairbrother. Blasco retired after the 1992 Olympics and became involved in politics. In 2008 she was elected to the Spanish senate with the Partido Popular party. A street in her home city of Alicante was named after her, La Avenida Miriam Blasco.

Blasco and Fairbrother entered into a relationship a few years later and were eventually married in 2015.