Most Popular Sports
All Sports
Show All

Olympics Rio 2016: Harrison defends title as women's -78kg champion

ByReuters

Published 11/08/2016 at 20:58 GMT

Kayla Harrison of the United States defeated France's Audrey Tcheumeo on Thursday to successfully defend her Olympic title and create a legacy as one of the all-time greats in judo.

kayla harrison us olympic pictures

Image credit: Eurosport

Harrison becomes the first to win multiple Olympic gold medals in the women's -78kg category and joins a short list of judokas who have won more than one gold in any weight class.
The 26-year-old American came out with all guns blazing and was clearly the aggressor the whole match but was only ahead by penalties with seconds to go, when she got Tcheumeo to submit on a hold for the match-ending ippon.
The crowd was disappointed not to see a dream finals clash between Harrison and rival Mayra Aguiar of Brazil -- they had been shouting "Mayra is coming!" during the American's semi-final match with Slovenia's Anamari Velensek -- and boos rained down when Tcheumeo overcame Aguiar on penalties.
Aguiar and Velensek won bronze.
Join 3M+ users on app
Stay up to date with the latest news, results and live sports
Download
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement