It appears history does in fact repeat itself… At least where Yanet Bermoy is concerned.

Like she did in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the 25-year-old Cuban judoka claimed her country’s first medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. And, another silver at that.

Bermoy claimed the silver in the 52 kg division in women’s judo, after succumbing to North Korea’s An Kum Ae.

“I come her to fight for the title,” she warned in the days before the competition and with that conviction she went to the mat in the ExCel Center, where she eliminated her rivals one after the other, including world No. 2 Bundmaa Munkhbaatar and Belgian Ilse Heylen, who won a bronze in Athens 2004.

Bermoy and An duelled for 5 long minutes and had to go to extra time where the North Korean fighter surprised the Bermoy with a leg sweep.

A disappointed Bermoy had to resign herself with a silver medal instead of the gold she’d been coveting.

“I had trained for that, I could have done better. But the Korean was too difficult to beat. I wanted to win by strategy, because I’ve never been able to throw,” said Bermoy. “The time I faced her this year in Germany (in the Grand Prix in Dusseldorf ) I beat her by two shido and I had to give a little more. I should not have lost concentration.”

Despite her disappointment, Bermoy  acknowledged being proud of being the first Cuban medallist and winning another medal in the Olympics: “Because it’s a challenge I set myself and finally got it.”