Mayra Aguiar wins unprecedented gold medal at the Judo World Championships.
Brazilian athlete defeated France's Audrey Tcheumeo in Chelyabinsk, Russia, to become the newest world judo champion; the athlete from Rio Grande do Sul also broke another record: becoming the country's most decorated athlete in the history of the competition, with four medals.
CBJ - Mayra Aguiar is the newest Brazilian world champion. With a wazari after one minute and forty seconds of fighting against Audrey Tcheumeo, the athlete from Rio Grande do Sul won gold at the Chelyabinsk 2014 World Championships. But Mayrão, as she is known for her size and strength, had already made history before competing in the final. With her victory over the reigning Olympic champion, American Kayla Harrison, in the semi-final, she secured her fourth medal at the World Championships and became the Brazilian with the most medals in this type of competition. In addition to the gold in Chelyabinsk, she won silver at the Tokyo 2010 World Championships and bronze medals at the Paris 2011 and Rio 2013 World Championships.
As was the trend throughout Mayra's campaign at the 2014 World Championships, she dominated the fight against the Frenchwoman Audrey Tcheumeo, world champion in 2011 and bronze medalist at the London Games. After one minute and forty seconds of fighting, she scored a tai-otoshi that earned her a wazari. From then on, it was just a matter of controlling the fight – despite being penalized twice – until the clock ran out.
"It takes a little while to understand what happened when you achieve something like this, but the emotion of standing on the podium and hearing the National Anthem always moves me. This time it was hard to hold back the tears, really, because the journey to get here was tough. I had knee surgery, but I never doubted I would win this medal," said Mayra.
But the toughest fight was against Olympic champion Kayla Harrison (USA), who had defeated Mayra in the 2010 World Championship final and in the semifinals of the London Olympic Games. The head-to-head record was unfavorable for the Brazilian, who had lost more than she had won against the American. But, as she did in all her fights at this World Championship, Mayra imposed herself and started at a very high pace from the beginning, managing to throw the American twice before the halfway point of the fight, once by wazari and once by yuko. However, the Brazilian faced a scare at the end when the American managed a throw.
"I was sure it would be a tough fight. She had taken away my gold medal at the World Championships and an opportunity to try for gold at the Olympics. That was gnawing at me, and that's why I threw everything I had onto the mat. I started very aggressively and I think I surprised her a little. In the end, my body was already tired, but I wasn't going to give up. I could have died right there on the mat," said Mayra.
And Mayra's aggressiveness translated into points. In her first fight, against the Italian Assunta Galeone, she scored two wazaris, which correspond to an ippon, a perfect throw that ends the fight. In the second round, against the Spaniard Laia Talarn, she won with a wazari and a yuko. And in the quarterfinals, against the Russian Alena Kachorovskaya, she scored an ippon using a kosoto-gare. Looking to the future, she wants more.
"I want to win my gold medal at the Olympics. The journey will be tough, but everything is in place for it to work out. Dreams, when we dream, seem very distant. This is a goal for me, I want to win this medal. And I will do everything to keep it in Brazil," said Mayra.
Also today, Tiago Camilo and Bárbara Timo competed on the mat in the middleweight category. Bárbara, making her World Championship debut, won her first fight against South Korean Hye Jin Jeong by ippon using seoi-nage. But in the second round, she faced Yuri Alvear (COL), who would eventually become a three-time world champion, and ended up being defeated. It wasn't easy for the Colombian, though. Bárbara scored a yuko early in the fight and was only thrown with 20 seconds remaining. Alvear acknowledged that the match was tough.
"It was one of my toughest fights in the competition because I was losing and there was little time left. But I thought about what my coach always tells me: never give up. And that's what I did," Yuri said in an interview in the mixed zone.
Tiago, however, couldn't find his rhythm against the Serbian. This time, Tiago Camilo couldn't find his grip against Serbian Dmitri Gerasimenko in his first fight in Chelyabinsk.
"He managed to score in the first minute of the fight and then blocked my grip. I couldn't reverse the situation. I'm very sad to have lost in the first fight and even more so for not having done what I had planned: to seek a medal," said the two-time Olympic medalist.
This Saturday, the last day of the individual competition at the Chelyabinsk 2014 World Championships, Brazil has five more chances for medals with Luciano Correa (100kg), Rafael Silva (+100kg), David Moura (+100kg), Maria Suelen Altheman (+78kg) and Rochele Nunes (+78kg). On Sunday, August 31st, it will be the turn of the team competition.