Danvers' Kayla Harrison Wins Second Olympic Judo Gold Medal

America's only Olympic gold medalist in judo is now American's only two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo.

Danvers resident and top-ranked judoka Kayla Harrison defended her title at 78 kg Thursday, winning her second gold medal in the event.

It only took Harrison less than a minute to advance to the quarterfinals. From the start, she took down China's Zhang Zhehui, at one point connecting on an arm bar. Harrison earned the ippon by pin with 3:25 left.

In a 2012 quarterfinal rematch Harrision faced Abigel Joo of Hungary. Despite Joo coming on top in their last three matches, Harrison nailed the counter takedown and got the ippon by a pin with 2:15 remaining.

In the semi-finals, Harrison moves on to the gold medal round with 2:17 left thanks to an arm-bar to Anamari Velenšek of Slovenia. The two grappled to start the match but with Velenšek on the defense, Harrison locked onto the arm, forcing the Slovenian to tap and end the fight.

The finals saw Harrison jump out against Audrey Tcheuméo of France with an aggressive offense with seven attacks within a minute and nearly scoring 40 seconds in. Tcheuméo struggled, picking up two penalties and little defense against the Danvers judoka. Despite owning the penalty tiebreaker 2-0, Harrison won with an ippon with 12 seconds left in the match.

Image Credit: US Olympic Committee