Lightweight (≤57 kilograms), Women

The last three World Championships had been won by North Korea’s Kye Sun-Hui. She was a four-time World Champion, also winning in 2001 in half-lightweight, and had won three Olympic medals, including a gold in 1996 over the redoubtable Ryoko Tamura-Tani. But in round one, Kye was upset by France’s Barbara Harel, whose bronze medal at the 2008 Europeans was her previous claim to fame. Harel lost her next match to Italy’s Giulia Quintavalle, also somewhat of a new entity, her best previous international finishes having been fifth at the 2007 Worlds and 2008 Europeans. Quintavalle won her pool to advance to the final against Deborah Gravenstijn of the Netherlands, the bronze medalist from Athina. The match was somewhat passive, with Quintavalle winning an upset by yuko.