Two-time world champion in women's judo Barbara Matic won Croatia's first Olympic title, after by defeating the German Miriam Butkereit in the final of the category up to 78 kilograms, BTA reported.
Until now, the Croatians had only one bronze, won by Miran Maricic in sports shooting.
Matic, 28 years old, won the final match with "vadzari". For her, this was her debut appearance in the category up to 78 kg, after she competed at 70 kg in Tokyo 2020 and finished in fifth place. She is world champion for 2021 and 2022 precisely in her former category, in which she also won a continental title that year.
Butkewright, 30, has no major championship titles in his career. She was third in the mixed teams at the world championships in Tashkent in 2022.
The first bronze in the category was won by the Austrian Michaela Poleres, who defeated the Spanish Ai Tsunoda Rustant. The Belgian Gabriela Willems won the second bronze medal with success against the Dutch Sane van Dyke.
Judo, category up to 78 kg, women:
1. Barbara Matic (Croatia)
2. Miriam Butkereit (Germany)
3. Michaela Poleres (Austria) and Gabriela Willems (Belgium)
Georgian Lasha Bekauri defended his Olympic title in the category up to 90 kilograms in the men's judo tournament at the Beijing Games.
In the final, the leader in the scheme Bekauri won with “ipon“ 2023 Doha World Championships bronze medalist Sanshiro Murao (Japan), who tried his best to make it difficult, but was left with the silver medal.
Bulgarian Ivaylo Ivanov, who was eliminated in the round of 16 by the big favorite Lasha Bekauri, also participated in the men's 90 kg competition. Ivanov finished in ninth place in the category.
Bronze medals were won by the Frenchman Maxime-Gael Ngayap Ambu and the third from the European Championship in Sofia in 2022 Theodoros Celidis (Greece).
Ngayap Ambu dealt with Brazilian Rafael Macedo with “ipon“, and Celidis prevailed with “vazzari“ over the representative of Spain Tristani Mosakhlishvili.
Olympic vice-champion from Tokyo 2020 Eduard Trippel (Germany), as well as bronze medalists in the category from three years ago Davlat Bobonov (Uzbekistan) and Christian Toth (Hungary) dropped out at the start.
Judo, category up to 90 kg, men:
1. Lasha Bekauri (Georgia)
2. Sanshiro Murao (Japan)
3. Maxime-Gael Ngayap Ambu (France) and Theodoros Celidis (Greece)
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9. Ivaylo Ivanov (Bulgaria)