The first judo medals of the 2016 Olympics were handed out on Saturday, and Paula Pareto made history by becoming the first Argentine – male or female – to win Olympic gold in judo.
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Mudranov’s gold medal is the fourth Russian Federation has ever won in judo, and the second consecutive in the lightest weight class for men after Arsen Galstyan won gold in men’s -60kg in the 2012 Summer Games.
The IOC cut the Russian delegation by more than 100 athletes after an anti-doping investigation uncovered widespread state-sponsored doping.
“We were confident. Only on the day the decision was announced were we slightly nervous”.
“Our country will prove to everyone that we can win gold”, he added.
“There has been a lot of psychological pressure that our country, Russia, has been subject to”, Mudranov told journalists after his victory.
In a tense duel with Kazahkstan’s Yeldos Smetov that went into “golden score” extra time, Mudranov threw Smetov to score a match-ending waza-ari and earn his first Olympic medal.
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Mudranov is one of 271 Russian athletes competing in Brazil, despite the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) recommending a blanket ban after a doping scandal. Japan’s Naohisa Takato and Diyorbek Urozboev of Uzbekistan took bronze.
