Gemma Gibbons Cries 'I Love You Mum' After Reaching Under-78kg Olympics Judo Final

GB's Gibbons Reaches 78kg Judo Final
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"I love you mum." Those were the first words Team GB's tearful Gemma Gibbons uttered after she reached the under-78kg judo final at the Olympics.

The 25-year-old won in dramatic circumstances against world champion Audrey Tcheuméo with a golden score - which is a sudden death situation where the clock is reset to match-time, and the first contestant to achieve any score wins.

Guaranteed a silver medal, Gibbons' mother died when she was 17.

She will now face the USA's Kayla Harrison in the final at 4pm this evening having beaten Holland's Marhinde Verkerk this morning.

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Gibbons cries with delight

Kate Howey was the last British judoka to medal when she took silver in the under-70kg at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Prime minister David Cameron and Russian president Vladimir Putin were in attendance at the ExCel Arena.

However Mr Cameron narrowly missed Gibbons's semi-final victory over French representative Tcheumeo, after talks on trade, Syria and human rights at Downing Street ran over.

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Gibbons' final is at 4pm

The prime minister is set to stay for this afternoon's final, where hopefully his curse over Britain's sportsmen and women will be broken.

Mr Putin is an honorary president of the International Judo Federation and a former St Petersburg judo champion.

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