Olympic Bronze for Karina Bryant

Team GB’s judoka claimed their second medal in 24 hours as Karina Bryant captured bronze at the ExCeL Arena on the final day of the judo competition.  

Bryant, 33, from Kingston-upon-Thames, a 21-time major medallist but bidding for her first Olympic medal in her fourth appearance at the Games, was spurred  on by teammate Gemma Gibbons who thrilled the nation by claiming a surprise silver medal on Thursday.

That was Britain’s first judo medal for 12 years. But in the +78kg division, Bryant (pictured above, far right) ensured they did not have wait very long for the next one.

She began by defeating Algerian Sonia Asselah by ippon in the opening round and followed up with a hard-fought triumph over accomplished Slovakian Lucija Polavder by a single yuko.  

In the quarter-final Bryant, who was driven on by a rousing crowd, dispatched Kazakhstan judoka Gulzhan Issanova by a waza-ari score.

Next came the semi-final and Bryant took on two-time world champion Mika Sugimoto of Japan who was supported in great numbers. Bryant gave it her all but cruelly lost out by receiving two penalties which resulted in a yuko score for Sugimoto – enough to win the bout.  

In the bronze medal contest Bryant faced Ukrainian Iryna Kindzerska. She had to come from behind to level the score with a waza-ari before registering a second to seal victory via ippon. 

Bryant said: “It’ very emotional, it’s my fourth Games and I just wanted to go out there and do myself proud. I feel like I’ve done myself justice.

“I’m not sure this will definitely be my last Games. I really felt I had unfinished business and now I have this medal. ” 

Bryant said the astonishing success of Gemma Gibbons had helped to give her the belief that she could capture an Olympic medal of her own.  

“She was a complete underdog, it made me so emotional I was definitely inspired but also a little nervous,” she said. 

Earlier in the day, Chris Sherrington put in a good display with a quick ippon for a strangle against Jake Andrewartha, before losing out in golden score to eventual silver medallist Alexander Mikhaylin.