Canada's Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard competes against Hungary's Hedvig Karakas during the women's 57-kg judo competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, Aug. 8, 2008.The Associated Press
Judoka Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard was hoping to be on the podium in her first Olympics but a costly penalty saw her eliminated in her first match Monday.
Beauchemin-Pinard took a shido for non-aggressiveness with 45 seconds left in her 57-kilogram bout with Hedvig Karakas of Hungary. That ended up being the difference in a tight match that the 22-year-old from St. Hubert, Que., could've won early on.
The Canadian had her opponent locked up in the opening seconds but Karakas, ranked 11th in the world, managed to slip out.
"I was on the edge of my seat," coach Sasha Mehmedovic said. "I thought 'This is it!' Everyone was thinking the same thing. But the girl proved to be quite flexible and managed to move her shoulder properly and get in a good position where she didn't have to tap."
Beauchemin-Pinard was in tears after the loss. "Her elbow wasn't locked properly and I didn't tighten the legs enough," she said. "Then I changed positions to try to pin her but it didn't work. And then I took a shido."
"It was the right call. It was two sequences in a row where she attacked and I didn't. I don't think I attacked enough. I waited too much. I was too patient. Sometimes that's good and sometimes not. You want to find the right balance."
Mehmedovic also felt Beauchemin-Pinard could've won. "You never want to lose by one penalty, but it happens," he said. "At the end of the day, the one that wins doesn't care how she won.
"It was a close match. She could have maybe attacked more, to change the level of the match. She had a good armbar on her, which I thought was going to finish it, but the girl managed to escape."
He said Karakas may've injured her right shoulder on the play and that could have contributed to the Hungarian's loss in her next match to Brazil's Rafaela Silva, to the delight of the large crowd in the Carioca 2 Arena.
Beauchemin-Pinard said she hopes to take a short break and begin work on qualifying the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.