Extra-Lightweight (≤48 kilograms), Women

Japan’s Ryoko Tani, possibly the greatest ever female judoka, had won the last two gold medals and seven World Championships. But Romania’s Alina Alexandra Dumitru was world ranked #1, having won five straight European titles, and the two met in the A Pool final, with Dumitru winning. In the final, Dumitru faced Cuba’s Yanet Bermoy, runner-up to Tani at the 2007 Worlds, with Dumitru winning by ippon in 1:20. Tani returned to win her repêchage match for a bronze medal, her fifth consecutive medal in the class, after having won silver medals in 1992 and 1996. In the other bronze medal match, Paula Belen Pareto of Argentina beat Pak Ok-Song of DPR Korea with a waza-ari. Pareto was charged with a shido penalty earlier in the match but she scored a waza-ari in the final minute for the victory. The referee first gave the waza-ari to Pak but changed the ruling after consultation and awarded it to Belen Pareto.