Preview Kayla Harrison vs Mayra Aguiar, the ultimate final U78kg

Kayla Harrison would gladly be booed again at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The first time Harrison beat Aguiar, they went into a golden score, judo’s version of sudden death, in a world cup final in Sao Paulo. Aguiar lost on a penalty. An Olympic Final between Harrison and Aguiar would be the max of all pleasure. “Brazil’s going to be amazing. They love judo there.”

“I had never been booed before,” Harrison said, “so I was like, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like to win. People don’t like it sometimes.’ But I liked it. I was happy with it.”

 “I was almost honored that they knew to boo,” said Harrison, who became the first U.S. judoka — male or female — to win an Olympic gold medal four years ago in London. “Because sometimes you go to an event and they’re like, ‘What’s going on? Judo, how does this work?’ They especially love Mayra Aguiar, the Brazilian who is Harrison’s arch-rival in the U78 kg. division.

Theirs is one of the most enduring rivalries in the sport — the subject of documentaries in Brazil — with a head-to-head record at 9-8 in Harrison’s favor after she overtook the Brazilian at Sunday’s World Judo Masters tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Both qualified for the Rio Games on Monday based on world rankings, with Harrison No. 1 and Aguiar No. 4. And she’d be happy to face Aguiar in Rio for the gold medal. “I’m not talking smack or anything,” Harrison said, “but I think it would be pretty poetic if I fought a Brazilian girl in the finals in Brazil.”

After all, Harrison took down hometown favorite Gemma Gibbons 2-0 in London for the gold medal. In the semis, Harrison upset Aguiar, then ranked No. 1 in the world, and the Brazilian settled for the bronze.

Aguiar got revenge in the semifinals at the 2014 world championships, though Harrison was thrilled to take the bronze medal “which I had no business doing,” she said, since she was coming off reconstructive knee surgery. Harrison then went to Brazil to train with Aguiar.

Mutual respect

 “We have a lot of respect for each other,” Harrison said, but added, “We don’t have sleepovers or braid each other’s hair.”

In their next showdown, Harrison beat Aguiar by ippon — which is like a knockout in boxing — at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto for the gold medal. Both suffered uncharacteristically early exits from the 2015 world championships, which left Harrison devastated and vowing to “pick (herself) back up.”

At the Paris Grand Slam in February, Harrison armbarred two opponents and threw another before her bout with Aguiar. “For the first time in a long time, I felt like, ‘OK, Old Kayla is back. No injuries. No aches, no pains. I feel good,’” she said. “And then in the final, Jimmy (Pedro), my coach was like, ‘All right, just go out there and enjoy it and play smart. Harrison was winning by a penalty — “and then, she bombed me,” she said. “Threw me for ippon… and it was a beautiful throw. I’ve watched it like 40,000 times.”

Harrison roared back on April 27 at the Pan American Championships in Cuba to defeat Aguiar by an ippon through an armbar, then made it two in a row at the World Judo Masters. After scoring a yuko approaching the halfway point, Harrison got Aguiar in an armlock leading to an ippon with 54 seconds remaining.

“I think years from now I’m going to look back and I’m going to realize I spent some of the best moments of my life with Mayra Aguiar, the highs and the lows,” said Harrison.

However, Harrison, 25, worries that she and Aguiar, 24, might know each other too well. “Sometimes I almost psyche myself out when I fight her because I overthink it sometimes. I want to win so bad that I don’t go out and just unleash.”

At 11 August 2016 we will know the outcome.