Jeong's medal came after South Korean contenders in other sports fell by the wayside earlier Saturday. Shooter Jin Jong-oh finished fifth in the men's 10m air pistol, where he was the defending Olympic gold medalist. 

Swimmer Park Tae-hwan failed to qualify for the final in the 400m freestyle, where he'd won a gold and a silver in each of the past two Olympics.

Jeong, world No. 8 making her Olympic debut, wasn't regarded as a medal contender, but she stunned No. 1 Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia in the quarters.

She had been 1-5 against Munkhbat before Saturday.

Then in the semis, Jeong dispatched Dayaris Mestre Alvarez of Cuba by an ippon.

Next up was Pareto, who had defeated Jeong in the semifinals of last year's world championships.

Pareto took the lead with a waza-ari -- half a point -- and held her ground to take home gold.

Jeong was overcome with emotion, and stayed down on the mat in tears long after the match ended.

"I wanted to win the gold no matter what," she told reporters, fighting back tears. "I lost to (Pareto) at last year's worlds, and I think I let my guard down a bit this time, too. I was feeling much better in the final than I did earlier in the day, and so I expected myself to win gold."

Jeong said she'd wanted to win the gold so much she dyed her hair in that color before leaving for Rio.

On a brighter note, Jeong said she loves the title of being the first South Korean medalist in Rio.

"I'm relieved to get this done and over with," she added. "I am going to enjoy the rest of the Olympics and cheer on my teammates. (Yonhap)