Maria Suelen Altheman gives Brazil gold in Abu Dhabi

Rio 2016 Olympian Maria Suelen Altheman bounced back from her glum Games experience by topping an IJF Grand Slam medal podium for the fourth time in Abu Dhabi. After four lost finals at the Grand Slam the heavyweight was able to grab the gold for her country, teammates and coaches. It was her biggest victory since she won the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf.

Double world silver medallist Altheman, who finished fifth at the London 2012 Olympic Games and lost her opening contest at Rio 2016, opposed Budapest Grand Prix winner Carolin Weiss of Germany who lacked confidence at the final hurdle as gold again escaped her on the Grand Slam stage.  A harai-makikomi gave the Brazilian a waza-ari and Weiss was beaten on the ground as the immovable South American pinned her down for 15 seconds and wazari-awasette-ippon.

In the first semi-final Weiss threw former Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Santa Pakenyte (LTU) with a thunderous hip throw for the maximum score while in the second semi-final Altheman subdued Tashkent Grand Prix silver medallist Maryna Slutskaya (BLR) on the ground. The Brazilian submitted her opponent with shime-waza, which is not so common in heavyweight women’s judo, via a sode-guruma-jime. 

The first bronze medal was won by Slutskaya who saw off Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist Iryna Kindzerska (UKR) with a sode-tsurikomi-goshi for a yuko score. The Belarus judoka vanished under the Ukrainian to throw her for the smallest score and Kindzerska needed to chase the contest but instead toiled and was penalised for passivity before Slutskaya was penalised for dropping in the closing seconds. 

The second bronze medal was won by Pakenyte who defeated former Junior World Championships bronze medallist Yelyzaveta Kalanina (UKR) to capture her second Grand Slam bronze medal. Pakenyte rushed in front with a yuko from a harai-makikomi and dropped into osaekomi for 20 seconds and ippon.