Briton Winston Gordon has missed out on the chance of winning an Olympic medal in the men's 90kg judo.
In the semi-final, Gordon was penalised for stepping out of the mat by the judges which gave Georgia's Zurab Zviadaurdi enough points for victory.
Gordon then lost his bronze medal match to Netherlands' Mark Huizinga who beat the Briton with an ippon throw.
Zviadaurdi capped off a good day by winning the final and gold medal at the expense of Hiroshi Izumi of Japan.
Gordon could not hold back his disappointment after missing out on an Olympic medal.
"I'm gutted. I worked so hard and struggled in the last two years just to get here," he said.
"I really worked my socks off. I beat the 2000 Olympic silver medallist which certain people out there thought I wouldn't have done.
"I did it because I know I can but it just didn't go my way today."
Earlier, Gordon began his campaign with a win over Australia's Daniel Kelly after producing an ippon inside 20 seconds.
Dominican Republic's Vicbart Geraldino fell to a Gordon strangle hold in the next bout.
The Briton booked his place in the semi-final with victory over beat Brazil's Carlos Eduardo Honorato.
There was disappointment for Kate Howey, in her last Olympics, when she lost to Canada's Catherine Roberge in the second round of the 70kg category.
The two-time Olympic medallist, who had a chance of winning bronze in the repechage, saw her hopes disappear when Roberge lost her next round.
Howey succumbed to a yuko from Roberge, and although she managed a koka she could not find the winning move before the time expired.
Had Roberge succeeded in beating German Annett Boehm in the last eight to
reach the semi-finals, Howey would have qualified for the repechage and remained
in with a chance of a bronze medal.
But those hopes were dashed as Roberge failed to reproduce the strength-sapping performance that accounted for Howey and was beaten by the world bronze medallist.
"It is disappointing but that is judo," Howey reflected. "I went out there doing my own judo and she just went out there to make me look bad.
Howey began the day in impressive fashion by beating Turkmenistan's Nasiba Salaeva with an ippon.
The 31-year-old, who won a bronze in Barcelona and silver in Sydney, dominated her bout from the start.
She almost performed a perfect sukinage on Salaeva inside the opening 10 seconds.
The referee only awarded a yuko but Howey then forced her opponent to concede a shido penalty before coming up with the winning move, just over a minute from the end.
The event was won by Japan's Masae Ueno, who added the Olympic crown to her world title by defeating Edith Bosch.