Heavyweight (>67 kilograms), Women

The women’s heavyweight division contained the most diverse selection of fighters in Rio, and picking a winner in advance was no easy task. The 2008 champion María Espinoza of Mexico could only win bronze at London in 2012m=, but was the top seed in Rio and had a good chance of regaining her title. Standing in her way was the tall number two seed, China’s Zheng Shuyin, who came into the Games with a good recent run of success behind her. She won a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships and won the 2015 Grand Prix Series final. She also possessed a good varied collection of kicks in her armoury. Britain’s number three seed Bianca “Queen Bee” Walkden was hit with injury in 2014 but bounced back to win the 2015 World Championship, but she had lost three times to Zheng. Walkden’s boyfriend was the British-born welterweight Aaron Cook, who represented Moldova in Rio. The 2012 gold medallist Milica Mandić of Serbia, who won a silver medal at the 2016 European Championships, was one of the most popular people in taekwondo and was seeded at number six.

Walkden had the biggest win of the opening round, winning 14-1 against Samantha Kassman of Papua New Guinea. The top two seeds also progressed to the quarter-final and top seed Espinoza came through to the last four after a sudden-death win, and her semi-final against Jackie Galloway of the USA was even closer. After four rounds it was 0-0 and the top seed won though on the superiority ruling.

In the other half of the draw Zheng and Walkden met in the semi-final meaning the top four seeds contested the two semis. After a very close contest that went to sudden-death, Zheng won it with a head kick. Walkden had some consolation by taking the bronze medal while Galloway won the other bronze medal match. Zheng controlled the final against the two-time Olympic medallist Maria Espinoza and ran out the 5-1 winner. Espinoza’s silver added to her gold in Beijing and bronze in London for a full set of medals.