Pool A: Riner (FRA)
Riner hardly broke a sweat fighting his first opponent, Mohammed Amine Tayeb (ALG), whom he took down for waza-ari and pinned for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon in less than a minute. His next opponent, home favourite Rafael Silva (BRA), fought like his main aim was to avoid getting thrown for ippon. At the end of five minutes, he was down by three shidos and a waza-ari. He must have been relieved it was not an ippon.
Pool B: Sassson (ISR)
Sasson, one of the very few heavyweights who can throw with morote-seoi-nage, used that technique twice on Islam El-Shehaby (EGY), scoring waza-ari and ippon. After the match, Sasson walked over to El-Shehaby but the Egyptian refused to shake hands, eliciting a chorus of boos from the audience. El-Shehaby was later sent packing from Rio by the IOC's Disciplinary Committee for his bad behaviour. Next, Sasson threw Maciej Sarnacki (POL) with a drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for waza-ari and then Roy Meyer (NED) with drop seoi-nage for waza-ari.
Pool C: Harasawa (JPN)
Harasawa, the man most people think would give Riner the toughest fight, had a hard opening match and had to rely on penalties for his win against Adam Okruashvili (GEO). He did better in his second bout, against Ushangi Kokauri (AZE), whom he threw with ouchi-gari for ippon. Against Alex Garcia Mendoza (CUB) however, he again could not get any score and won by virtue of hansoku-make from the four shidos that Mendoza had accumulated. This was not a very impressive performance by the man many touted as a Riner-killer, but still he was through to the semi-finals.
Pool D: Tangriev (UZB)
Abdullo Tangriev (UZB) – the man who beat Riner in Beijing 2008 – easily defeated Derek Sua (SAM) with uchimata for ippon. Then, he threw Daniel Natea (ROU) with yoko-otoshi for waza-ari, followed by drop seoi-nage for ippon. That brought him up against Iurii Krakovetskii (KGZ), who scored first with uchimata for yuko. Tangriev retaliated with drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for ippon.
Repecharge
Silva's match against Meyer was not a particularly exciting one, with Silva winning through penalties. The crowd was ecstatic. The other match promised more excitement as it involved two big throwers, Garcia Mendoza and Krakovetskii. The match could have gone either way but in the end it was Mendoza who scored the big ippon with ouchi-gari.
Semi-Finals
Sasson came close to scoring against Riner when he dropped underneath the Frenchman, who managed to land on his front. With a shido each, the match looking like it was heading into Golden Score when Riner struck with a sumi-gaeshi for waza-ari. Harasawa's semi-final bout against Tangriev was a lop-sided one. After Harasawa scored yuko with ouchi-gari, Tangriev struggled to stay on his feet and ended up with hansoku-make after incurring four shidos.
Bronze
Silva gave the crowd what it wanted when he defeated a very tired Tangriev with a yuko through soto-makikomi. Both Sasson and Garcia-Mendoza are capable throwers but in their bronze medal match it was a battle of tactics. In the end, the Israeli won through penalties.
Day 7: Men's +100kg
There were 31 players in this category but one man stood heads and shoulders above the rest, both figuratively and literally: Teddy Riner (FRA). Contenders who could give him a hard time include Roy Meyer (NED), Or Sasson (ISR) and Hisayoshi Harasawa (JPN). The Georgians have one player, Levani Matishvili, who had given Riner a tough time in the IJF circuit. He had qualified for the Olympics but another Georgian, Adam Okruashvili, was sent to Rio due to the fact that he had higher ranking points.