Eleven delegations gathered at Parque Independencia in Rosario for the South American Games judo programme, which combined individual competition, a mixed team event and kata on the same mat.
Brazil again showed the depth that makes it the leading force in South American judo, claiming eleven of the fourteen individual titles. Diego Ismael, Ronald Lima, Guilherme De Oliveira, Gabriel Falcao, Marcelo Fronckowiak and Andrey Coelho won gold in the men's divisions, while Sarah Mendes, Rafaela Rodrigues, Gyovanna Andrade, Nauana Silva and Ana Soares completed the women's campaign.
Venezuela produced one of the strongest performances behind Brazil. Anriquelis Barrios at -63 kg and Elvismar Rodriguez at -78 kg took gold, with Angello Urbano, Samuel Corzo, Gabriela Miranda, Eliana Aguiar and Karen Leon adding silvers.
The host delegation had its moments. Agustin Gil at -81 kg and Agustina De Lucia at -63 kg earned silver, while Galo Villavicencio, Joaquin Tovagliari, Tomas Quinteros and local judoka Ivo Dargoltz each took bronze. Dargoltz won his -100 kg bronze-medal contest in his home city against Colombia's Francisco Balanta with a harai-goshi for ippon.
The kata competition brought another side of the sport into the same arena. Colombia's Edwin Gomez and Gerardo Restrepo won nage-no-kata ahead of Sebastian Nunes and Pablo Aguirre, and the Argentine pair Pablo Surace and Abel Benedetto took katame-no-kata gold.
The mixed team event closed the programme. Brazil beat Peru in the final, with Argentina and Venezuela taking bronze.