Japan’s Judoka Nagase Retains 81kg Olympic Title at Paris 2024
Takanori Nagase, July 30, 2024. Photo: X/ @themainichi
July 31, 2024 Hour: 10:15 am
In the women’s 57kg final, Andreja Leski of Slovenia defeated Mexico’s Prisca Alcaraz.
On Tuesday, Takanori Nagase of Japan became the first judoka to successfully defend the men’s 81kg title at the Olympic Games, while Prisca Awiti Alcaraz won Mexico’s first Olympic medal in judo.
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In the men’s 81kg event, world No. 2 Tato Grigalashvili from Georgia, who had tied for fifth on his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, set up a final showdown against defending champion Nagase.
The final witnessed Nagase beat Grigalashvili within three minutes by a clear ippon, earning his fourth Olympic medal and Japan’s third gold in judo at the Paris Olympics.
“Compared with the Tokyo Olympics, there are bigger crowds this time, and I am so glad to compete in France, where the people love judo so much. I think I need a rest after the Games. And I can’t tell you right now if I will fight for the next Olympics. It will require a lot of training,” the 30-year-old Nagase said.
World No. 3 Lee Joon-hwan (South Korea) earned his first medal by defeating world No. 1 Matthias Casse (Belgium), sharing third place with Somon Makhmadbekov (Tajikistan).
In the women’s 57kg final, Olympic debutant Andreja Leski of Slovenia defeated Prisca Alcaraz, while defending champion Clarisse Agbegnenou of France shared the bronze medal with Kosovo’s Laura Fazliu.
“It feels very right. I had a feeling that it was my day, and I had in mind that I needed to go to all five fights and put my soul into them. It was perfect,” said Leski.
“It was tough. The pressure of an Olympic final is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was a hard pressure to deal with, and in the end, I didn’t manage to hold onto it. I thought Leski piled the pressure on me early on,” said the silver medalist.
Alcaraz added, “I’m really proud to have my family here with me. It’s a special moment to have them watching. I am happy to bring that honor to Mexico.”
Autor: teleSUR/ JF
Fuente: Xinhua
