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Canadas Antoine Valois-Fortier won a bronze medal in the mens -81kg judo event Tuesday with a surprising yet incredible showing on Day 4 at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Rob Gronkowski Authentic Jersey . The 22-year-old captured the spot on the podium by defeating 10th-ranked American Travis Stevens to become the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the sport since his coach Nicolas Gill won a silver at Sydney 2000. It is just the fifth time Canada has won an Olympic judo medal. "This is such a good feeling," Valois-Fortier said afterward. "I cant realize it yet but Im so happy, Ive worked so hard." The native of Beauport, Que., a small suburb of Quebec City, took the early advantage in his bronze-medal bout, getting a yuko score at 0:55 when he lifted Stevens and landed a te-guruma (hand wheel) throw. From then he frustrated his opponent with his constant pressure and steady grips. Stevens entered the match with bandage over his left eye for a cut sustained in an earlier bout, but it wasnt a factor. In the final seconds Valois-Fortier, ranked 21st in the world, was assessed a harmless shido (penalty) for a false attack, and before they were restarted Stevens let out a small yell of frustration. After the final second ticked off, an emotional Valois-Fortier raised his arms while on his knees and fell to his back in celebration as he became just the fourth different Canadian to win an Olympic judo medal and first ever in the 81-kilogram weight class. "(Stevens and I) train together a lot, we have fought each other a lot. I knew that the first guy who scored a point on the board would control the others attack," said Valois-Fortier, who was entering London 2012 as the Pan American Judo Championships silver medallist. "So when I scored, I was just telling myself, I can do this. There was no doubt left in my mind that I was going to win this match." Valois-Fortier, who trains in Montreal, advanced to the bronze-medal bout by beating 29th-ranked Emmanuel Lucenti of Argentina with a waza-ari in an exciting repechage match that featured plenty of action. The six-foot-two judoka kept up his aggressive but calculated pace and eventually executed a forceful uchi-mata (inner thigh throw) for the score at the 2:36 mark of their five-minute contest. An earlier throw by Lucenti was originally awarded a yuko, but the score was then taken off the board after a video review. Both fighters were assessed a shido (penalty) in the match, with Valois-Fortier being warned for defensive posture with 18 seconds left as he fended off his opponent for the victory. Stevens lost his semi-final bout to Germanys Ole Bischof, who claimed silver. No. 2 Kim Jae-Bum of South Korea beat Bischof for the gold medal, avenging his loss to the German in the -81kg final at Beijing 2008. Top-ranked Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil missed the podium after being defeated in the quarter-finals and also in his repechage match. In his first match of the day, Valois-Fortier pulled off a big upset to get his run started. He knocked off the No. 3 Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan by decision after no points were scored in regulation or golden score. Mammadli, who won gold at Beijing 2008 in the-73kg division, was a huge favourite against Valois-Fortier. But the six-foot-two Canadian applied constant pressure using his longer reach to tire and outwork his opponent, over whom he held a six-inch height advantage, and earn the nod. Valois-Fortier then beat 33-year-old British judoka Euan Burton with an ippon throw at 1:45 and advanced to the quarter-finals by outscoring Montenegros Srdjan Mrvaljevic in the round of 16. Valois-Fortier maintained his aggressive approach and scored with a tomoe-nage (stomach throw) at 2:59 that earned a yuko, followed by a tai-otoshi (body drop) 12 seconds later that scored waza-ari. With the big lead on points against Mrvaljevic, he changed gears and turned on the defensive. He surrendered two late shidos to give his opponent a yuko, but he could easily afford it as he held on to put himself in position to win a medal. In his quarter-final match, the 2010 Canadian national champion faced Russias Ivan Nifontov and it was tight contest from the get-go. The seventh-ranked judoka threw Valois-Fortier midway through regulation and was initially given a yuko, but it was quickly waved off by the two side judges. Moments later, the 2009 world champion scored a good waza-ari after throwing Valois-Fortier onto his side then rolling him onto his back. Valois-Fortier continued to grip hard and push the pace but Nifontov, who went on to win the other bronze medal with a victory over Japans Takahiro Nakai, was too strong. Valois-Fortier managed a throw that nearly scored, but the timing of the execution wasnt sufficient. He made desperate attempts to score in the fading moments, but the Russian shook off all of his attacks to hand Valois-Fortier his only loss of the day. The result bumped Valois-Fortier to the repechage, but he rebounded quickly to beat Lucenti and put himself in position for the podium finish. "(Winning bronze) feels amazing," Valois-Fortier said. "Ive sacrificed so much and all of the fights today were very hard. It was tough mentally but the whole team supported me and I managed to pull myself together. "I wanted it really bad, its what I work for every day." NOTES: No Canadians were in action on the womens side on Day 4. The top two seeds at -63kg, Japans Yoshie Ueno and Gevrise Emane of France, were upset in the quarter-finals by Mongolias Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren and Da-Woon Joung, respectively. Both ended up winning bronze medals. Slovenias Urska Zolnir beat Chinas Lili Zu in the womens gold-medal match ... Gill, who now serves as the head coach of Canadas national judo team, is the countrys most decorated Olympic judoka; he won a silver medal in the -100kg division at Sydney 2000 and a bronze in the -86kg at Barcelona 1992. The other Canadian judo players to win Olympic medals are Doug Rogers (silver at +80kg when judo debuted at Tokyo 1964) and Mark Berger (bronze at +95kg at Los Angeles 1984). Patrick Chung Jersey .J. Ward wont play Sunday against the St. Louis Rams and could miss several games with a foot injury. Tom Brady Jersey . -- The last time linebacker Keith Brooking got up close to John Elway, the Denver Broncos were celebrating their Super Bowl win over his Atlanta Falcons for their second straight title. http://www.nikenewenglandpatriotsjerseyssale.com/wes-welker-jerseys . All he had to do was be himself. His start Saturday was as good as any hes had since an unimpressive first two months. The right-hander struck out 11 in seven innings to help New York end Chicagos winning streak at four games by beating the White Sox 4-0. Tom Brady Womens Jersey . Winnipeg (25-15) smacked three home runs in a 9-1 thumping of the American Association-leading Wingnuts (30-10) to open a three-game series before 4,024 fans at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Kansas. Rob Gronkowski Youth Jersey . And that is precisely what happened. Tillman took a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning to extend a run of successful starts by Baltimore pitchers, and the Orioles beat Jason Vargas and the Mariners 3-1 on Monday night. PARIS -- Tenth-ranked Mardy Fish and womens No. 16 Andrea Petkovic are among several players who pulled out of the upcoming French Open on Monday. Fish has not played a match for more than a month and organizers said the big-serving American has fatigue. Petkovic of Germany has a right ankle problem. They are being replaced by Canadas Frank Dancevic and Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay (kneee) and Spains Pere Riba (left leg) also pulled out of the mens tournament and were replaced by Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia and Italys Simone Bolelli. Aaron Hernandez Womens Jersey. In the womens draw, Agnes Szavay of Hungary (back), Slovakias Daniela Hantuchova (left foot) and Switzerlands Timea Bacsinszky (abdominal) were replaced by Mathilde Johansson of France, Spains Laura Pous-Tio and Argentinas Paula Ormaechea. ' ' '