In this way, Pareto became the first Argentine female athlete to achieve a gold medal in the entire history of Argentine Olympic sports, as well as being the second to obtain two medals in an individual sport, as had happened with Carlos “Camau”. Espíndola in yachting, previously: La Peque had already achieved the bronze medal in Beijing 2008.
In the tournament that was played at the Arena Carioca 2, the Argentine judoka won all her fights with points obtained through technique and not by sanction.
“Something dreamed of happened. I want to thank all the people who supported me. I have faith in myself, otherwise I wouldn’t come to fight. I knew that everything was complicated. I’m more than happy, I can’t believe it. The faith and good energy of the people who came and the confidence in the work”, the Olympic medalist pointed out on that occasion in the mixed zone.
The final match against the South Korean Jeong Bokyeong, who was the current world champion in the category, was very close and the Argentine athlete got a waza-ari shortly after it began and although she suffered two penalties, she managed to maintain the advantage.
For her part, the disadvantaged South Korean tried to corner Pareto and take advantage of her better frame, but the judoka from Tigre was attentive to each onslaught of the rival, in order to run the clock and thus win the gold medal.
The path was not easy at all, since the athlete from Buenos Aires had to overcome the Japanese Ami Kondo (also for waza-ari) and the Hungarian Eva Csernoviczki for the same take.
Earlier, in her first fight of the day, Pareto had beaten Russian Irina Dolgova by ippon.
This meant his first gold medal and the second Olympic medal after the bronze in Beijing 2008: in London 2012 he had been very close to achieving the Olympic podium. NA.
