The German judo team secured their third Olympic medal in Tokyo in the mixed final against the Netherlands. The injured world champion Wagner only intervenes in the decisive fight.
It was the hoped-for grand finale. The German judokas won bronze at the Olympic premiere of the mixed team competition in Tokyo. In one of the two small finals they defeated the Netherlands 4-2 on Saturday. The German Judo Association (DJB) ended the games in Japan with three medals – two more than in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. In the previous individual, Eduard Trippel from Rüsselsheim had won silver in the weight class up to 90 kilograms and the Ravensburger world champion Anna-Maria Wagner (class up to 78 kilograms) also won bronze.
In the team competition, in which up to three men and three women each go on the mat for one team, the Germans had initially defeated the refugee team of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 4-0 and in the quarter-finals against Japan 2-4 lost. With a 4: 2 over Mongolia in the hope round they qualified for one of the bronze fights.
Anna-Maria Wagner only intervenes in the decisive battle
Wagner, who had been spared from an elbow injury until then, was also used in this. After an energetic performance she defeated the Dutch World Cup third Guusje Steenhuis by Waza-ari and thus ensured the German 2-1 lead. Previously, Giovanna Scoccimarro had lost against European champion Sanne van Dijke and Dominic Ressel had won against ex-world champion Noel Van T End in the Golden Score. Karl-Richard Frey lost against Henk Grol, but the World Cup third Theresa Stoll made the preliminary decision with her victory in the Golden Score over Sanne Verhagen. Sebastian Seidl made everything clear against Tornike Tsjakadoea also in the Golden Score.
“The troop that we have here together is something special,” said DJB sports director Hartmut Paulat of the German press agency even before the final appearance in the venerable martial arts temple Nippon Budokan. “It has grown together over the last Olympic cycle and has shown several times that, especially in team competitions, potential can be unleashed that you may not always see in individual combat.”
In Tokyo, that was enough in the quarter-finals against the Japanese with five reigning Olympic champions, against whom the DJB team already led 2-0 and, according to Paulat, showed a “very, very strong fight”, almost to the surprise – and via the small detour round of hope at the end of the day there was actually a medal.
