Half-Middleweight (≤63 kilograms), Women

This was one class which definitely did not proceed as expected. The contenders were Gella Vandecaveye (BEL), the 2001 World Champion; Daniela Krukower (ARG), the 2003 World Champion; and Driulys González (CUB), three-time Olympic medalist in the lightweight class. But of those, only González would win a medal and that only a bronze. Ayumi Tanimoto of Japan was not considered a favorite, despite winning the 2001 Asian Games, but she kept winning her pool matches by ippon, including the pool final over Krukower. The other finalist was Austrian Claudia Heill, a three-time medalist at the European Championships but never a winner. In the final, Tanimoto continued her dominance, throwing Heill for ippon in only 1:17. Though she did not win any World Championship titles, Tanimoto would return in 2008 to defend her gold medal.