Flyweight, Freestyle (≤48 kg), Women

The most decorated woman in the weight class was the World No.1, Azerbaijan’s two-time Olympic medalist Mariya Stadnik (2012 silver, 2008 bronze), who was in the hunt for her first gold medal. The top challenger was Japan’s Eri Tosaka, the winner of the last three World Championships, who was making her Olympic debut, and had beaten Stadnik in their last bout, at the 2015 World Championships. Not to be counted out of the reckoning was world-ranked No.2 Sun Yanan of China, who had a win over Tosaka in early 2016.

The showdown that was expected for gold saw Tosaka and Stadnyk meet in the final. Stadnyk had a 2-1 lead late in the match, but Tosaka scored a two-point takedown with four seconds left, giving her a 3-2 victory. This was Tosaka’s first Olympic gold medal and fourth major global title for the fourth successive year. Stadnyk won her third Olympic medal in as many Games, and second consecutive silver.

The first bronze medal was won by Sun in just 54 seconds, when she slammed Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan to the mat for a four-point takedown, and then turned her three times to a score of 10-0, and winning by Great Superiority.

The second bronze medal match was an exciting duel between Bulgaria’s Elitsa Yankova and Argentina’s Patricia Bermúdez. Yankova opened up a 7-2 lead before the Argentine closed the gap to 7-6 with a four-point take down. However, Yankova was able to hang on to her one point lead for the bronze medal, and bring her country their first medal of the Games.