Rio de Janeiro: Brazil’s Rafaela Silva overcame top seed Dorjsürengiin
Sumiyaa of Mongolia to win gold in the women’s - 57kg judo on Monday, sending
the crowd into joyous celebration of their first Olympic gold as host country.
Silva raised her arms to the crowd in
triumph as she beat Dorjsürengiin on a waza-ari, following a pulsating semi-finals
victory that went into extra time against Romania’s Corina Caprioriu.
Portugal’s Telma Monteiro and Japan’s
Kaori Matsumoto won bronze.
Silva’s win also settles an old
Olympic score. At the 2012 London Games, she was disqualified for an illegal leg
grab during a fight against Hedvig Karakas of Hungary.
This time, it was Silva who advanced
from their quarterfinal match.
Silva, who is from Brazil's largest
favela and trained at a judo dojo founded by former Olympic bronze medalist
Flavio Canto, was in top form for much of the day. Her first match lasted only
46 seconds. Silva developed her aggression trying to survive in her violent
neighborhood, which has been 'pacified' — or taken over by military police.
Still, it's a violent area and Silva's rise is seen as a symbol of hope in the
favelas.
Meanwhile, USA won two gold medals
and six medals in four finals on Monday night. When it comes to the pool, the
team already has 14 medals — or as many as the next six most successful
countries combined. That dominance helped push the USA to the medal lead with
19 platform appearances in only three days of competition. In total, USA has 19
medals (five gold, seven silver and seven bronze). China, with five gold medals
and 13 total medals (three silver and five bronze), currently ranks second. Australia
ranks at number three with four gold and three bronze medals for a total of
seven medals. Italy ranks at fourth position with nine medals (three gold, four
silver and two bronze medals), while Japan round off the top five with ten
medals (three gold and seven bronze medals).
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