RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Japan swept the judo gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Wednesday, taking the top spot in both men’s and women’s middleweight divisions.
Haruka Tachimoto struck gold first by defeating triple world champion Yuri Alvear in the women’s 70-kilogram division.
Despite being penalized for passivity in the first minutes of the final – and a partisan crowd cheering against her – Tachimoto managed to pin Alvear to the ground for 20 seconds, scoring an ippon victory that automatically ends the bout.
Alvear, 30, won a bronze at the London Olympics. She was Colombia’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Until February’s Grand Slam in Paris where she won silver after losing to South Korea’s Seongyeon Kim in the final, Tachimoto had been undefeated since 2014. She finished seventh in London. Tachimoto’s gold is the second for Japan’s judo team at Rio.