Half-Heavyweight (≤78 kilograms), Women

The favorite was Japan’s Noriko Anno, who had been World Champion in 1997 and 1999. But she lost her first match by decision to Italy’s Emanuela Pierantozzi, who had been silver medalist in 1992 in the middleweight class. The final eventually matched the current European Champion, France’s Céline Lebrun against China’s Tang Lin. The match came down to hantei with Lin winning the gold medal by yusei-gachi. Anno would again win the World Championships in this class in 2001, and would finally win an Olympic gold medal in 2004, while Lebrun would win the 2001 Worlds in the open class.