The Russian delegation arrived in Rio de Janeiro amidst a great amount of controversy, with the IOC originally moving to ban the nation’s athletes from the Olympic Games before 271 were ultimately cleared to compete. On Saturday Russia earned its first gold medal in Rio, with Beslan Mudranov winning the men’s extra lightweight judo competition. Mudranov beat Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov in the gold medal match, recording a waza-ari in the golden score round after the two fought to a scoreless tie in regulation.
Joining Mudranov and Smetov on the medal stand were Japan’s Naohisa Takato and Uzbekistan’s Diyorbek Urozboev, who won their respective bronze medal matches.