RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Judo translates as "the gentle way."
But after nearly a week of competition at the Rio Olympics, the meaning of the Japanese martial art seems almost paradoxical; many of the matches have ended brutally, with judo players strangling others into unconsciousness or threatening to break their opponents' arms before forcing them to surrender.
When American Kayla Harrison fought her way to history on Thursday — becoming the country's first two-time Olympic champion — she did it in dominant form. Harrison compelled all of her opponents to submit in an automatic victory for the American, either by immobilizing them on the judo mat for 20 seconds or trapping them in an armbar, a move where the limb is hyperextended to the point of a fracture, compelling them to tap out.