Olympedia – Extra-Lightweight (≤48 kilograms), Women

At the 2011 World Championships Japan’s Haruna Asami defeated her teammate, Tomoko Fukumi, in the final. Only one competitor per country is allowed at the Olympics in each class and Fukumi was chosen for London and was the top seed. But she struggled throughout, needing to go to extra-time in her first round match and again in the quarter-finals, and then lost in the semis to Romanian Alina Dumitru. Dumitru met Brazil’s Sarah Menezes, a two-time World bronze medalist, in the final. The final match was scoreless with one minute to go, when Menezes scored a yuko and than a waza-ari to win the gold medal.

The bronze medals went to Hungary’s Éva Csernoviczki, a bronze medalist at the 2011 Worlds, who defeated Fukumi for the bronze, and Belgium’s Charline Van Snick, who had lost to Menezes in the semi-finals.