Olympic judo 2016 results: Host nation Brazil earns 1st gold medal

Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports

Brazil is on the board in gold, as Rafaela Silva won the women's judo 57kg division.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Rafaela Silva made history as the first Brazilian to win an Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016, and the first thing that went through the judoka's head as she received the medal at the podium was her frustrating run at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Silva was disqualified against Hedvig Karakas in London. As she returned to Brazil, an avalanche of racist comments online almost made her quit the sport. Silva was disappointed with her result and shocked with the way her countrymen treated her.

Silva came close to retiring at age 20, but a psychologist named Nell Salgado managed to bring her back to the mats with one simple question: do you see yourself away from judo in two years?

"After my loss in London, I was going to quit judo," Silva said. "I started working with a psychologist, and he didn't let me quit. My coaches made me work hard every day, even when I didn't get good results in 2014 and 2015. People said I wasn't good enough, but I trained hard for two years and here is the result."

Silva won the gold medal after beating Mongolia's Sumiya Dorjsuren, her fifth win of the day. On her way to the final, the Brazilian had the chance to avenge the 2012 loss against Karakas, and it came in a tough battle.

The first bronze medal for the women went to Telma Monteiro of Portugal, who managed to best Caprioriu of Romania in the match. The second bronze medal went to Kaori Matsumoto, who bested Lien Chen-Ling of Chinese Taipei.

Marti Malloy represented the United States in the 57kg division, and was a contender for a medal as she was seeded third in the bracket. But the London 2012 bronze medalist found herself on the losing end of her opening match to Chen-Ling.

Athletes have to deal with excessive criticism in Brazil. The way some casual fans are, athletes are treated like trash if they don't win titles. Silva, who stayed away from social media heading into the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to avoid "unnecessary comments," won't fire back at the racists now that she's at the top of the world.

"For those who criticized me, who said that I was an embarrassment for my family and didn't have what it takes to be in the Olympics, that I should be in a cage instead of the Olympics, I could make my family happy today," she said. "They said I wasn't meant for judo, that a monkey should be in a cage instead of the Olympics. I have no message for them, only this medal in my chest."

As important as winning the biggest title of her career in judo, the 24-year-old fighter from Cidade de Deus, the dangerous community in Rio de Janeiro that inspired a movie City of God, hopes that overcoming a rough life inspires others to do the same.

"I started in judo when I was five years old, and didn't really have a goal in the sport except for having fun," Silva said. "When I started winning tournaments I thought I could be in the Olympics one day.

"We don't have many goals at Cidade de Deus. We live our lives in there and don't have many things. If I could show kids that it's possible to make your dreams come true, to believe that it's possible, then I'm happy. I started in judo just for fun, and now I'm the Olympic champion. It's unbelievable."

In the men's 73kg division, Nick Delpopolo was the top competitor for the US. He made it quite a bit further than Malloy, making his way through to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, he lost that matchup and was sent to the repechage round, where he had one more chance to get a shot at a bronze medal.

There he faced Miklos Ungvari of Hungary and unfortunately lost, ending his bid for Olympic hardware. Delpopolo was disqualified from the 2012 London Olympics over a pot brownie.

The gold medal match saw Rustam Orujov of Azerbaijan taking on Shohei Ono of Japan. Orujov came out in the match very aggressive, but Ono took advantage of that and managed the ippon for the gold medal. Orujov ended up with the silver.

The first bronze medal in the men's event went to Lasha Shavdatuashvili of Georgia, who bested Sagi Muki of Israel in that match. The other bronze went to Dirk Van Tichelt of Belgium, who submitted Ungvari.

By Guilherme Cruz and James Brady, http://www.sbnation.com/