Middleweight (≤90 kilograms), Men

A short time after Haruka Tachimoto won the women’s middleweight competition in the 70 kg division, Japan celebrated another gold thanks to Mashu Baker in the men’s 90 kg division. Top seed Baker, the son of an American father but born and raised in Japan by his Japanese mother, took the gold, while third seeded Varlam Lip’art’eliani from Georgia and second seeded Gwak Dong-Han won silver and bronze, respectively. The other bronze medalist, China’s Cheng Xunzhao, was a surprise medalist from the lower part of the ranking list.

Baker was trained at the Kodokan, the world’s oldest and most prestigious Dojo (judo school). In his first three matches in Rio, he defeated his respective opponents by an Ippon (full point) after approximately two minutes of each contest. In the semi-final, it took him 4:40 min to apply a Kesa-gatame (scarf hold) for an Ippon to beat Cheng. In the final, however, he fought very defensively after scoring a Yuko (advantage) after 2:17 min. To the displeasure of the crowd, Baker carefully held on to this minimal lead although he conceded two penalties for defensive posture. The desperate Lip’art’eliani, however, also failed to score, and thus the Georgian had to settle for silver.

Korea’s reigning World Champion Gwak lost his semi-final against Lip’art’eliani but at least claimed bronze, along with China’s Cheng. Refugee Olympic Athlete Popole Misenga, who defected from the Democratic Republic of Congo, gave a good performance. He defeated India’s Avtar Singh in the first round and resisted Gwak for four minutes in the second.