Brazil's Rio de Janeiro hosted one of the most spectacular judo events in recent years on the weekend of 4th -5th July 2009.

The third of four Grand Slam tournaments in the revamped International Judo Federation's (IJF) World Circuit was a remarkable success.

With a daily attendance of nearly 8,000, a media presence as high as the Paris Grand Slam and the arrival of many of the world's best judokas, Brazil has shown it will be one of the annual highlights in the IJF calendar.

On both days a carnival atmosphere greeted the judokas. This was a reception never seen in the strong judo nations of Japan, France and Russia (the three other Grand Slam countries).

As the final blocks began a sea of colour, dancing and singing erupted from the stands.

It was the four Grand Slam nations that topped the medal table, with France and Russia winning three gold medals, Japan two and the hosts claiming one gold, four silvers and five bronze medals.

The French gold medals all came in the female weights, from the familiar faces of Frederique Jossinet (-48kgs), Lucie Decosse (-70kgs) and Celine Lebrun (-78kgs).

Russia's three golds, meanwhile, came in the men's categories, via Alim Gadanov (-66kgs), Ivan Nifontov (-81kgs) and Kirill Denisov (-90kgs).

Japan's women – Yuka Nishida (-52kgs) and Mika Sugimoto (+78gks) – took their nation's two gold medals.

But it was Brazil's Daniel Hernandes in the +100kgs who was the star of the show. With so many of his team-mates falling at the final hurdle, Hernandes delivered in the very last contest of the tournament.

After beating the former triple World Champion Alexander Mikhaylin (RUS) in the preliminaries and reigning Openweight World Champion Yasuyuki Muneta (JPN) in the semi-finals, Hernandes won the gold medal bout by Shido against Japan's Hiroki Tachiyama.

Rio de Janeiro's Maracanazinho Stadium was in raptures; a gigantic Brazilian flag covering 4,000 people was unravelled. As Hernandes stood on the medal rostrum and cried, the Brazilian crowd was finally able to sing their national anthem and celebrate their new hero.

The other gold medals came from Portugal's Telma Monteiro (-57kgs), Germany's Claudia Malzahn (-63kgs), Austria's Ludwig Paischer (-60kgs), Belgium's Dirk van Tichelt (-73kgs) and Holland's Elco van der Geest (-100kgs).

Report by Danny Hicks from Rio