Brazil wins medal table with golden Schimidt, Aguiar and Souza

Brazil added another three judo titles at the Pan American Games in Lima. Guilherme Schimidt, Mayra Aguiar and Beatriz Souza took care of the gold medals which brought the total at seven. Brazil’s Guilherme Schimidt won the gold medal for the weight division U81kg, Étienne Briand and François Gauthier-Drapeau both clinched bronze medals. Schimidt defeated his countryman Vinicius Panini in the final.

After losing his pool final, Briand beat Tomas Morales of Argentina and Samuel Ayala of Mexico back-to-back in the repechage to claim the bronze medal. Briand recently won two silver medals at the European Open.

“Étienne is extremely consistent. He was very explosive and he made strong throws. His loss was a bit of bad luck, but he should be proud of himself,” noted Valois-Fortier.

Gauthier-Drapeau fared in much the same way as his compatriot, losing his pool final to Ayala. He then defeated Nicolas Yonezuka of the USA and Medickson Del Orbe Cortorreal of the Dominican Republic.

Mayra Aguiar was the undisputed favourite for the title for women U78kg and won the gold. In the final she overcame Karen Leon of Venezuela. Aguiar (30) was not the oldest in her category Moira de Villiers took bronze aged 32 for New Zealand at this combined championship.

Beatriz Souza claimed the third gold medal for Brazil on Saturday. The heavyweight defeated Yuliana Bolivar Gonzalez in the final. Nina Cutro Kelly of the USA took bronze at her respectful age of 37.

In the men’s U90kg it was again Cuba’s Ivan Felipe Silva Morales to win the gold medal, he is clearly on form with a second gold in two weeks time, earlier he won gold in Antalya’s Grand Slam. Now he was able to overcome Marcelo Gomes of Brazil in the final.

Shady El Nahas won the gold medal U100kg at the Judo Pan-American Championships on Saturday in Lima, Peru. El Nahas performed flawlessly in his three fights of the day, wrapping up with a victory over Brazil’s Rafael Buzacarini in the gold medal final.

Cuba’s Andy Granda took the second gold medal for his country. In the heavyweight final he defeated Brazil’s big man Rafael Silva (34)

Brazil might have hoped for gold U70kg but the story went differently with gold for Elvismar Rodriguez of Venezuela who won her final against Luana Carvalho. Maria Portela (34) who had lost to Carvalho took bronze as well as  Aoife Coughlan (AUS).

Many athletes of over 30 took a medal: Granda, Buzacarini, Aguiar, Takagi, De Villiers, Panini, Portela, Silva and Cutro-Kelly.