Hajib-wearing Saudi judoka goes down in 82 seconds

After months of squabbling between the International Olympic Committee and Saudi officials to finally include women on their team followed by days of wrangling between judo officials and her government over whether she’d be allowed to compete wearing a modified hijab, Wojdan Shaherkani became the first woman to compete in an Olympic Games for Saudi Arabia.

She shows up for her first match tentative, almost unwilling to touch or engage with her opponent. Next thing she knew, and before she could figure it out, she was down on the mat. It was all over in 82 seconds. She picked herself up and left the mat, duly trailed by her hulking male relative and the woman in the silk head scarf.

That was it. All that fuss for this?

Sometimes breaking barriers totally overshadows the event itself. That certainly was the case here.