-70 kg: Tanaka Reaches Her Goal

At the end of normal time each competitor had accrued two penalties and the golden score period loomed. In the very first seconds of extra time, Cvjetko went deep over the back again but Tanaka had solved the puzzle completed and attacked through her opponent with a low o-soto-gari which scored yuko. Tanaka had reached her goal and was now a world champion. Cvjetko had her second world silver medal.

After the final, Tanaka said, “I finally got the gold, so I'm really happy and relieved. Whenever I have lost on the World Judo Tour, it was by shido, so I have trained to really be on the attack, to take the initiative. I also worked on my gripping and that's what led to today.”

The first bronze medal contest featured two strong athletes, both experienced and both accustomed to medal fights on the world stage. Sanne Van Dijke appeared to be just ahead from the beginning but Ai Tsunoda Roustant (ESP) wasn’t far behind. They each collected two penalties in normal time but as they entered golden score the Spanish judoka opened up and attacked but the Dutchwoman countered and earned the yuko needed to claim the medal, her third bronze at a world championships.

Last year’s Olympic silver medallist, Miriam Butkereit (GER), fought for the second bronze medal of the -70 kg category. Despite Australia not being among the giants of world judo, some individual athletes have put their hand in the air to claim great results in the last couple of years; Aoife Coughlan is one of them and she had earned her place in the final block in Budapest.

Butkereit was in control at the outset but Coughlan is a robust competitor, not easily shaken. She refreshed with every break in the contest flow and continued to work her way into the match. She attacked with a couple of seoi-otoshi movements but neither scored and Butkereit had a long opportunity on the ground to find an osaekomi position but that was also unsuccessful. In the end Butkereit did what was necessary, throwing Coughlan in a 50/50 grappling situation, registering ippon on the scoreboard and earning her first world medal. Coughlan would have to settle for a hard-to-swallow fifth place.