In 2016 he once again participated in Grand Slam Paris , where he lost to the Japanese judoka Aaron Wolf in the second round . In late February Krpálek won the Noris Cup in Prague . Despite a shoulder injury , he decided to take part in 2015 European Judo Championships , where he lost to Grigori Minaskin in the first round . At that time Krpálek had been third in the world rankings and thus he had qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games . Before the opening ceremony he was chosen by his fellow athletes as the flagbearer of Czech team . Krpálek 's Olympic campaign started on 11 August with a match against Jorge Fonseca of Portugal . Fonseca took an early lead after being awarded a yuko , but towards the end of the match Krpálek 's physical superiority became apparent . In the last minute he had been awarded a waza-ari after a successful Sumi gaeshi , and won the match . Krpálek faced the Kazakh judoka Maxim Rakov next and won after his opponent was given two shidos . In the quarterfinals he went against the reigning world champion Ryunosuke Haga of Japan . This match was similar to the previous one and after a careful performance , Krpálek won by a difference of one shido . Cyrille Maret was his opponent for the semifinals . Throughout the match Krpálek stayed more active and led by one shido . With one minute remained he won by ippon through an Oseakomi waza . In the final Krpálek faced Elmar Gasimov . Both judokas tried to be active , but failed to score . Near the end Krpálek won by ippon via Ōuchi gari and became the Olympic champion . At the victory ceremony he paid tribute to his departed friend , judoka Alexandr Jurečka
opening ceremony
2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
Lukáš Krpálek