First Olympic judo gold ever for USA

Kayla Harrison made history by winning the first ever Olympic gold medal in judo for the United States as she claimed the women's under-78kg title here on Thursday. The 2010 world champion beat shock finalist Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain by a pair of minimum yuko scores. Harrison, who had been a victim of sexual assault by her coach when a teenager and once considered suicide, was just a little too good for Gibbons. Having overcome personal heartache she has become one of the best fighters in the world and she lined up here as the fourth seed. Yet the 22-year-old needed a bit of luck even to get to the final. She armlocked Russia's Vera Moskalyuk in her first fight but was in serious trouble against Abigel Joo of Hungary.Leading by a half-point waza-ari, Joo injured her leg with a little over a minute remaining and was left powerless to stop Harrison throwing her for the maximum ippon. She armlocked world number one Mayra Aguilar of Brazil 14 seconds from the end of her semi-final and then broke home hearts in the final. Gibbons, 25, has also had her fair share of heartache, losing her mother to leukemia in 2004. For the Briton it was a remarkable achievement just reaching the final as she was only fighting in this weight division having missed out to compatriot Sally Conway for the hosts' under-70kg place. Had it not been for London hosting the Games, the world number 42 would not even have been here, yet she came within a pair of yuko scores of becoming the first ever Briton to win Olympic judo gold. She also had to bounce back from shoulder surgery earlier this year. But throughout the day she was in inspired form, showing a willingness and determination to attack that bordered on the reckless. She threw Portugal's Yahima Ramirez with a delightful uchi-mata (inner thigh throw) for ippon in her first round and then left it late in her next two fights. She scored a winning yuko against Mongolia's Lkhamdegd Purevjargal with just one second left on the clock and then scored a waza-ari to beat former world champion Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands with an ouchi-gari (major inner reap) with just 12 seconds left. In the semi-final she faced the current world champion Audrey Tcheumeo of France. After five punishing minutes the bout was scoreless so it moved into an extra three-minute sudden death period of golden score. With both athletes out on their feet, Gibbons somehow mustered the strength to throw Tcheumeo for ippon with a harai-goshi (sweeping hip throw), collapsing in tears to the tatami before glancing upwards in heavens and mouthing "I love you mum." Tcheumeo earned a measure of redemption as she snatched bronze in defeating Joo by ippon with an ura-nage (rear throw). Aguilar beat 2009 world champion Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands with a kosoto-gari (minor outer reap) for the second bronze.