Russia's first medal of Olympics comes from huge underdog
How does a Russian judoka climb from No. 18 in the world to Olympic champion?
Over 100 athletes from Russia were banned from the Summer Games, but Beslan Mudranov and 11 other judokas from the country were allowed to attend. Mudranov took advantage of the opportunity by pulling off a series of upsets to earn the first medal of the Rio Olympics for Russia.
Despite coming into the men’s -60kg tournament at No. 18 in the most recent world rankings from the International Judo Federation and earning the No. 16 seed in the Olympic tournament, Mudranov strung together five consecutive victories to earn the gold.
[Related: USA wins first medal of the Olympics in shooting event]
Along the way Mudranov defeated world No. 1 Won Jin Kim of South Korea in the quarterfinals, and eventually earned the gold with a win over No. 4 Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan.
The final was a battle of attrition with a “Golden Score” overtime required to break a 0-0 tie.
Mudranov’s gold medal is the fourth Russia has ever won in judo, and the second consecutive in the lightest weight class for men after Arsen Galstyan won gold in men’s -60kg in the 2012 Summer Games.
More Summer Olympics coverage on Yahoo Sports:
