Marti Malloy’s two Olympic games have been filled with surprises. Unfortunately, this time around the unexpected was not pleasant.
Malloy, competing in the 57kg class of judo in Rio Monday, lost her first match and was eliminated. Malloy, a 2004 graduate of Oak Harbor High School, came into the competition as one of the medal favorites and was seeded third.
She, however, was upset by 13th-ranked Lien Chen-Ling of Taipei in the round of 16.
In London in 2012, the unheralded Malloy stunned the competition with several upsets that led to a bronze medal. From there, she continued to be one of the dominate forces in her weight class and won three straight Pan American titles.
In Rio, Malloy received a first-round bye because of her high seeding. Lien defeated 21st-ranked Arleta Podolak of Poland in the round of 32 to earn the chance to face Malloy. After topping Malloy, Lien went on to lose the match for the bronze medal.
Brazil’s Rafaela Silva, who came in ranked 11th, won the host country’s first gold medal of the Olympics by beating No. 1 seeded Sumiya Dorjsuren of Mongolia.
Lien defeated Malloy by shido (penalty points). A shido is a tie-breaker used by judges that includes penalty points for nonaggression and other minor violations.
Malloy was uncertain about the penalties.
“I know I did one attack that was kind of questionable, but I didn’t think it deserved a penalty, especially because I’d been doing many more attacks than her up until that point,” Malloy said. “And then, I felt I pushed the pace more than her, and I thought that she would possibly get another penalty, too, to tie it up, but instead I got one.”
Malloy said she was confident she could win the gold medal, having defeated most of the fighters sometime in the past.
“I felt really focused before I went out and had a lot of energy and gas in the tank. It was just those small things that I needed to do to control the fight better.”
Malloy, 30, plans to compete through the 2017 world championships and then decide if she will continue in the sport.
