Featherweight (≤57 kilograms), Women

The favorites were Jang Ji-Won (KOR), who was World Champion in 2001, and Iridia Salazar of Mexico, who was the featherweight runner-up at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships. The U.S. entrant was Nia Abdallah, who was bronze medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games, but was not considered in the class of Jang or Salazar. Her only previous international competition had come at the Pan-Ams. Nobody was dominant during this competition, as Jang, Salazar, and Abdallah all won closely fought quarter-final matches, Salazar prevailing only on superiority over Uzbekistan’s Irina Kaydashova. In the semi-finals, the two favorites, Jang and Salazar, were unfortunate to be drawn against each other. Abdallah also narrowly escaped, winning by superiority over Thailand’s Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen. The final was again quite close, but Jang won the gold medal over Abdallah, 2-1. Salazar prevailed in the bronze medal round.