Mudranov took advantage of the opportunity by pulling off a series of upsets to earn the first medal of the Rio Olympics for Russian Federation. Neighbouring Kazakhstan faces losing five weightlifting gold medals from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics after its champions’ drug test samples were retested and found to contain steroids.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – It was a day of surprises on the first day of the judo competition at the Rio Games. “Here, to win a gold medal on the very first day, of course it means a lot for my country”, Mudranov told reporters through an interpreter.
The third-ranked Pareto jumped repeatedly in victory when she defeated South Korea’s Bokyeong Jeong in the women’s 48-kilogram division, much to the delight of a crowd packed with Argentinians waving their national flag.
The two bronze medals went to Japan’s Ami Kondo and Kazakhstan’s Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh.
Russian Federation put their chaotic and controversial Rio 2016 preparations to one side today in the judo as Beslan Mudranov won the Olympic gold medal in the under 60 kilograms category here today.
The International Judo Federation was outspoken in backing Russian athletes’ right to compete in Rio despite being threatened by a blanket ban over state-sponsored doping scandal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also the honorary President of the IJF and had travelled to London four years ago to support his country’s fighters at the Olympics.
The Arena was at least 70 per cent full but there was disappointment for the home crowd when defending champion Sarah Menezes lost her quarter-final match against Cuba’s Dayaris Mestre Alvarez.
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Naohisa Takato of Japan and Diyorbek Urozboev of Uzbekistan claimed bronze.
