Having won more Olympic medals in judo than any other nation in the history of the event, Japan added another gold to its tally Monday afternoon.
Shohei Ono won gold in the men’s lightweight (73 kg) division, beating Rustam Orujov of Azerbaijan in the gold medal match. Japan won the silver medal in this event four years ago, with Riki Nakaya losing to Russia’s Mansur Isaev in London. The two bronze medalists in the lightweight division were Georgia’s Lasha Shavdatuashvili and Belgium’s Dirk van Tichelt.
Shavdatuashvili, who won gold in the half-lightweight division in London, beat Israel’s Sagi Muki in his bronze medal match. Van Tichelt fell to Ono in the semifinals, duplicating the result from their semifinal meeting in the 2013 World Championships. He would rebound from today’s semifinal defeat to beat Miklos Ungvari of Hungary to win a bronze medal, his first Olympic medal.
Japan has now won a total of 70 Olympic medals in judo, with 34 of those medals being gold. Ono’s gold medal is Japan’s sixth in judo in Rio.