The 33-year-old Bryant (pictured top, in blue), who had finished eighth, ninth and 14th at the previous three Olympics, took bronze in the +78kg category by defeating Ukraine's Iryna Kindzerska after narrowly losing her semi-final against the Japanese world champion, Mika Sugimoto.

Sugimoto eventually took silver after having to give best in the final to Cuba's Idalys Ortiz who won gold by a decision.

Bryant, who also has seven World Championship medals to her name, had missed six months of the 2011 season with a neck injury but a month-long training camp in Japan at the start of 2012 helped to get her into shape for the Games.

The home competitor went behind to a waza-ari in her bronze medal contest but levelled with a waza-ari on the counter to huge roars from the crowd.

She conceded a yuko but scored a second waza-ari, which, added to the first, gave her an ippon and victory.

"I'm lost for words, I'm just trying to keep my head together," said Bryant.

"It's not sunk in yet.

"I've dreamt of getting a medal since I was a kid and I couldn't ask for a better stage than this."

Idalys Ortiz (in white) defeated Mika Sugimoto in the +78kg class to win gold

The 6ft 1in athlete from Kingston-upon-Thames, who had come through a tough quarter-final win over the Kazakh Gulzhan Issanova with a painful ankle and a bloodied mouth, has carried the main medal expectations for Britain's female judoka for almost a decade.

She said she had been lifted by the performance of Gibbons.

"She was a complete underdog," said Bryant.

"It made me so emotional.

"I was definitely inspired, but also a little nervous."

Bryant added that she had found it hard to fund her bid for an Olympic medal but said she was not ruling out competing at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"I'm not sure this will definitely be my last Games," she said.

"I really felt I had unfinished business.

"I've had an amazing career and now I have this medal.

"This is my fourth Olympic Games, but I've really enjoyed it.

"I don't want to focus on what happens after this.

"I won't rule out Rio just yet."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2012: Gibbons seals silver and first British Olympic judo medal after 12-year drought