LONDON -- American Marti Malloy capped an amazing, emotional run in the women's judo competition with a bronze medal Monday.

She knocked out No. 2 seed Telma Monteiro of Portugal to make the semifinals where she fell to Romania's Corina Caprioriu. She managed to rally to beat Italy's Giulia Quintavalle in the bronze medal match.

"Malloy seems in tears. From crushing defeat to bronze triumph in less than 90 minutes," Merc coumnist Mark Purdy tweeted from the competition venue. (Check back for his column on Malloy later.)

Monteiro had defeated Malloy in their last two meetings, but U.S. coach Jimmy Pedro described Malloy's recent form as "spectacular."

On Monday, Malloy fought off Monteiro's aggressive attempts to grip her uniform and repeatedly tried to throw Monteiro. The fight went into overtime, when Malloy swept Monteiro's foot to make the winning throw.

Malloy won her next two bouts, one with a match-ending ippon and the other by unanimous judges' decision.

Last week, Pedro predicted that if Malloy could get past Monteiro, she would likely make the semifinals of the women's 57-kilogram division and fight for a medal.

In the men's 73-kilogram division, U.S. judoka Nick Delpopolo made the quarterfinals after upsetting the No. 8 seed from Belgium.

Delpopolo, who said he was "stoked" to have made it that far, faces world No. 1 Korean Wang Ki-chun next.

"Every time I fight him, it's a real dogfight,"

"Even if I'm down five points, I'm going to keep fighting until the end," he said.