South Korean judoka Gwak Dong-hwan took the bronze medal in the men's -90kg at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics Wednesday.
Gwak defeated Marcus Nyman of Sweden in the bronze medal contest at Carioca Arena 2, earning South Korea's third medal in judo here.
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Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald |
Earlier, Gwak lost to Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia in the semifinals to fall to the third-place match.
Gwak, world No. 1 in his weight class, defeated Thomas Bricento of Chile in the round of 32. He then took down Popole Misenga, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo competing for the Refugee Olympic Team.
Gwak got past Mammadali Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals, but ran into Liparteliani in the semis, where he went down by an ippon.
With the bronze medal on the line, Gwak took down Nyman with a shoulder throw 2:30 into the contest, scoring an ippon victory.
Gwak said the bronze wasn't the prize he'd been seeking in Rio.
"I trained hard to win the gold medal, and after losing in the semifinals, I wasn't feeling so good about myself," he said. "I am feeling a bit better now. I was in good form and I figured things would go well today. It didn't turn out that way."
Though not winning gold devastated him, Gwak said he was able to regroup in time.
"I am grateful for this bronze," he added. "Before the bronze medal match, coaches told me I should stop thinking about the past loss, and that there was a big difference between finishing third and fourth."
South Korea had targeted at least two judo gold medals in Rio but has claimed two silver and one bronze so far, with two days remaining.
Also on Wednesday, Kim Seong-yeon was eliminated in the round of 16 in the women's -70kg. (Yonhap)
