Japan’s Natsumi Tsunoda won the gold medal in the women’s under 48kg judo at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, while Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan won gold in the men’s under 60kg category.
Luka Mkheidze of France took the silver after being defeated by Smetov, while Ryuju Nagayama of Japan and Spain’s Francisco Garrigos earlier won the bronze medals.
In the women’s extra lightweight category, Mongolia’s Baasankhuu Bavuudorj took silver after her defeat by Tsunoda.
France’s Shirine Boukli claimed a bronze medal on her home soil by defeating Spaniard Laura Martinez Abelenda. Sweden’s Tara Babulfath also won a bronze after overcoming Abiba Abuzhakynova of Kazakhstan.
Tsunoda, taking gold in her first appearance at the Olympics, came close to elimination in the semi-finals against the Babulfath, who was also making her Olympic debut.
Tsunoda only won on a “Golden score”, when the referee penalized Babulfath for a false attack, a decision the 18 year-old Swede did not seem to understand at the time. She later praised Tsunoda in her press conference and refused to comment further.
For Smetov, who won silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo, this gold medal felt like vindication for all his work over the years.
“Of course, I have been waiting for a long time, before I was on the right and the left side of the podium, but today I decided to stand on the top of it. I worked very hard to get to this stage.”
At the end of the first day of judo competition in Paris, the French are level with Japan on two medals apiece. The two nations have won the most medals in judo in Olympic history. The crowd at the Arena Champs de Mars, mainly composed of French supporters, cheered its two athletes on wildly, waving flags and singing along.
“It was magical, it was incredible. It is a great crowd that spreads positive vibes. It makes me want to roll over anything. I feel like this is historic”, said Boukli, 2023 World Championships silver medallist.
French President Emmanuel Macron was seen around the mats supporting the French judokas and chatting with former judokas David Douillet and Stéphane Nomis, president of the French Judo Federation. Former soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane was also in the area and congratulated Boukli for her bronze medal.
“He was so happy and it made me happy. These are incredible meetings that are inspiring”, said Boukli.
