Mayra Aguiar gained more than four kilos in just two days to try to find her second medal in judo at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. And the Brazilian touched that second medal, this Saturday, without getting it.
Aguiar, 29, had hung the bronze on Thursday in the -78 kg category, the same metal that he won in London-2012 and Rio-2016.
The Brazilian suddenly found herself, after her third place, that she had to replace at the last minute Maria Suelen Altherman, 118 kilos, who broke her knee and surpassed 80 kilos to compete.
The judoka went from 77.7 kilos on Thursday to 81.6 on Friday and continued to gain weight until the day of competition this Saturday, as she had to face much heavier rivals.
Unfortunately for Mayra, Brazil lost 4-2 to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, despite the Porto Alegre medalist winning her match over Dutch Guusje Steenhuis.
In the play-off, in search of one of the two bronze medals, Brazil lost again, this time against Israel, also 4-2.
And again Mayra was one of the two members of her Brazilian team to win their match.
“I have a bitter taste for these defeats. It is a team competition, a different competition. I see it as a joint thing, where each one of us surrendered. We show signs that we are a strong team. But unfortunately we did not win.” explained at the end of the competition.
– Team Judo –
Aguiar, after the disappointment at not taking the second medal, remembered the American gymnast Simone Biles and the problems that in Tokyo to dominate her mind and be able to compete, when she was destined to be the star of the Games and opted for six golds.
“I will never judge any athlete. It is very hard. Our body, our soul and our career is everything. It is hard to compete and risk everything. Each athlete has his life and each person has his life,” said the Brazilian.
It is the first time that team judo is part of the Olympic Games. Competitors of six categories and different weights, three men and three women, dispute six matches against a rival team.
And the Porto Alegre fighter showed that she can do anything. That girl, whose parents wanted to find a sporting activity in which she would discharge all her energy, and who went through athletics and swimming until she finished judo, is setting herself challenges and overcoming them.
The last one, to gain at least five kilos in two days, to go up a category. Not only did he do it, he won both of his bouts in the Olympic Games tag team match. A pity that their effort was not enough to win Brazil a medal.
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