I spammed three consecutive Annie Ramirez matches to understand the competitive world of Olympic-style jiu-jitsu (even if this isn't still an Olympic sport) and man, this is a good learning experience.
And unlike a certain learning experience that would either reset a basketball program (oops) or just become some default post-match interview icebreaker, this made me realize that jiu-jitsu NEEDS TO BE an Olympic sport.
I now understand the Meggie Ochoa match because of what Annie Ramirez did.
With that said, I now fear for every problematic situation they are now in.
How is this NOT a problematic situation?!?
Whenever there's a person dangling on another person, it's not a pretty sight. When you carry a sack of rice in that kind of way, your next reaction is probably to just drop the sack to relieve the pain. But yeah, Ramirez powered through with a mad sequence of events that in hindsight, could have been avoided if Galina Duvanova didn't do her strength test.
Again, going back to the Meggie Ochoa gold medal match, Ochoa never let the UAE grappler get to her. Balquees Abdulla attempted to triangle choke her but to no avail. For most of the match, Ochoa held on to her offense while Abdulla stuck to her defense.
Thus, the win by advantage - Ochoa was trying to score while Abdulla was trying to survive.
In Annie Ramirez's gold medal match, there is desperation in Ramirez when she is carried by Duvanova. With that said, it's difficult for the Kazakh to look for offense in that kind of predicament unless she just rams Ramirez to the mat. The fact that she didn't make the move meant something was up with the situation. With Annie's legs wrapped around her waist, her options were limited. When Annie was trying to go to the floor, Duvanova's balance got compromised.
So yeah, combining the stress of looking good from the start and her limited options to finish the match made the Kazakh lose this match. Even if the match ended up scoreless, Ramirez would have gotten the decision because of the fact that she survived an attack and unleashed a move on her own.
So congratulations to Annie Ramirez for giving the Philippines its third gold medal in the women's 57-kg division.