Saori Yoshida saw her bid to win a fourth straight Olympic wrestling gold medal crumble before her eyes after a seismic loss to American Helen Maroulis at the Rio Games on Thursday.

But Risako Kawai lifted the mood when she won the women¡¯s 63-kg freestyle competition later in the evening, taking Japan¡¯s tally of wrestling golds so far at Rio 2016 to four.

Yoshida was aiming to follow in teammate Kaori Icho¡¯s footsteps by becoming only the second female athlete in any sport to win individual gold medals at four successive Olympics.