Bellandi, a gold back patch on her judogi and a red one in her pocket, understood the mission and so increased the pace one more time, attacking with her well known seoi-otoshi, with no response from her opponent. Several exchanges passed that way but eventually one seoi landed in just the right space and Bellandi rose up under Lytvynenko and threw for waza-ari.
The remaining 14 seconds of the match passed without incident and Bellandi could finally claim her first Paris Grand Slam gold. Olympic, world and Paris champion, all at the same time; Bellandi is one if the greats!
The first of the two bronze medal contests would be between Bercy queen Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA) and Liz Ngelebeya (FRA), without a World Judo Tour medal to date. A win for either Frenchwoman would be significant; Ngelebeya’s first grand slam medal or Tcheumeo’s tenth Paris medal.
Plenty of action but no scores came in the first three minutes but as the 4th minute began, Ngelebeya caught Tcheumeo with a superb tsubame-gaeshi, placing a waza-ari on her side of the scoreboard. 45 seconds wasn’tt long enough for Audrey to build a sufficient response and so the 23-year-old had her first World Judo Tour medal and a very special one at that. Winning a place on the podium in Paris is the dream of most judoka but for the French it is a must; Liz Ngelebeya now has hers!
Alina Boehm (GER) and Anna Monta Olek (GER) delivered a cagey contest for the second bronze medal. Attacks came and went but none could affect the scoreboard and so the penalties began to appear, 2 each as they went into golden score. Not long later, the third penalty came and it was Boehm who received it. Olek had been more active and the bronze medal was her reward.
Final (-78 kg)
Bronze Medal Fights (-78 kg)
