Heavyweight (>80 kilograms), Men

The 2012 gold medallist Carlo Molfetta of Italy failed to qualify for Rio so the 2008 Beijing heavyweight gold medallist, and one of the most experienced fighters in the field, Ja Dong-Min of South Korea, seeded six, was hoping to regain his title in what he announced was to be his last competition. There seemed to be nobody capable of stopping Uzbekistan’s 2015 world champion Dmitry “Shock Force” Shokin, however, who had risen rapidly in the senior ranks. The number two seed was Iran’s Sajjad Mardani and he had a win over Shokin to his name. Also fancied was the tall third seed Radiq İsayev of Azerbaijan. Gabon’s first ever Olympic medallist, seventh seed, Anthony Obame could improve on his London silver medal and add to the gold he won at the 2013 World Championship.

Shokin easily came through his first contest, but was starting to look vulnerable after narrowly beating the Cuban Rafael Alba on a superiority decision. His gold medal chance came to an abrupt end when he lost 8-2 to number 12 seed Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga of Niger. The second seed Mardai also had an easy first round win, but then came unstuck against Britain’s Mahama Cho, losing on a sudden death. Cho’s ambitions also came to an end in the semi-final in a close encounter that he lost 4-1 to number four seed İsayev. Cho suffered a further set-back when he lost 5-4 to the Brazilian Maicon Siqueira in his bronze medal match, while the top seed Shokin also missed out on bronze when he was beaten in sudden-death by Ja Dong-Min, the 2008 Olympic champion.

The final saw Radik İsayev win 6-2 with a head kick in round two and round three after a pointless opening round. The beaten finallist Abdoul Issoufou, however, had the honour of winning Niger’s second Olympic medal, after the bronze won by boxer Issaka Daboré in 1972.