Another day at the Olympic judo tournament has brought another medal to Russia. Ivan Nifontov recovered from a semifinal loss, to the new 81kg champion Kim Jae-bum of South Korea, to oust Japan’s Takahiro Nakai for the bronze.
The 25-year-old Russian claimed two Waza-Aris, or half-points, earning an early victory to continue Russia’s medal-reaping run.Meanwhile, Kim defeated Ole Bischof of Germany in a final repeat of Beijing 2008. The Korean dominated from the start, threw Bischof twice and was often on the attack, even when both were locked in grappling techniques on the ground. The 27-year-old won a silver at the Beijing Games, and is the current world champion. Yet another bronze medal went to Canada, courtesy of Antoine Valois-Fortier.In the women’s 63kg contest, Urska Zolnir of Slovenia defeated Xu Lili of China for the gold medal. The bronze medals were won by Yoshie Ueno of Japan and Gevrise Emane of France.