It was close. Inbar Lanir advanced to the Olympic final, the first for Israeli judo since Barcelona 1992, when it was Yael Arad who lost the battle for the gold. Lanir equalized the feat after a heroic fight against the Italian Alicia Blandi.
And yet, the great hope for a women’s medal did. Lanir, the world champion up to 78 kg last year, assured the Israeli delegation of the first Olympic medal at the Paris Games, having already defeated the second ranked in the world, the German Anna Maria Wagner, in the semi-finals with a great performance.
In the final it was more complicated. Blandy looked sharper and controlled the battle, and after Lanier took the second penalty (Italy had one penalty), she turned the Israeli with an excellent exercise and won a Vasari score. Lanier had only one minute left to make a reversal, but before she could do so she received a third penalty and settled for the silver medal. A fantastic achievement.
Earlier, the Israeli, ranked third in the world, began her journey by automatically advancing to the round of 16, where she beat the Mongolian 28th ranked Khoslan Otgunbayar in less than three minutes.
In the quarter finals, Lanir met the Dutch player Hosea Steinhaus. The Israeli has never beaten the 8th ranked in the world, until today. A particularly fast Ipon in 23 seconds gave her the ticket to the semi-finals.
Inbar Lanir defeats Wagner and advances to the final, photo: Oren Aharoni
Inbar Lanir, photo: N Inbar Lanir’s quick move in the quarterfinals, photo: Oren Aharon Snoop Dogg also came to see Lanir, photo: Oren Aharoni
Inbar Lanir and Shani Hershko, photo: Oren Aharoni Inbar Lanir. She won the first battle, photo: Oren Aharoni
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