Extra-Lightweight (≤48 kilograms), Women

Japan’s Ryoko Tani, formerly Ryoko Tamura, was again the favorite as she had been in 1996 and 2000. She was the defending gold medalist, and had won every World Championship since 1993, a streak she would continue thru 2007 (save 2005, when she did not compete). She had not lost in an international match since the Olympic final in 1996, and was now considered one of the two greatest female judokas ever, with Belgium’s Ingrid Berghmans. Since the 2000 Olympics, she had married Japanese baseball star Yoshitomo Tani. Her victory here seemed assured and she came thru again. In the final she met France’s Frédérique Jossinet, who she had defeated in the final of the 2003 World Championships. The final went the distance and Jossinet avoided ippon but Tani was never in trouble and won easily. Her victory made her the first woman to defend a gold medal at the Olympics.