The gold medal contest though was something a little different. The home crowd had their first home athlete appearance in a final block. Michaela Polleres, double Olympic medallist and Austrian heroine, was up against one of the new generation, April Lynn Fohouo (SUI).
This was a high-octane match, both women attacking and both finding their route to avoid being thrown while putting the other at risk. Eventually the more experienced of the two prevailed but it took more than 4 minutes to do it. In a flurry of attacks, Polleres tipped Fohouo over and she lost her balance completely. It was ippon for Polleres and the crowd applauded and cheered jubilantly; a host nation gold is always a satisfying occasion.
In the first bronze medal contest, world cadet champion Sinem Oruc (TUR), only just 18 years old, took on Portuguese starlet Tais Pina. It was bound to be a fast and highly mobile contest but no-one expected what happened in the first exchange. No more than 4 seconds of contest time had passed and the Portuguese athlete gripped and ploughed through her opponent, rolling into a kata-guruma for a clear waza-ari.
That single waza-ari was the only score of the contest, the remaining 3 minutes and 56 seconds delivering effort, strategy and heart but no change to the scoreboard.
Dena Pohl and Samira Bock fought an all-German bout for the last medal of the category. We could have been forgiven for expecting a stalemate but we could not have been more wrong. Pohl took her over-the-top grip and heaved Bock on to her hip, scoring ippon with a massive trsuri-goshi. It had taken just 40 seconds to decide the winner.
Final (-70 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-70 kg)
