Montréal, July 29, 2024 – World number one-ranked under-57 kg judoka Christa Deguchi achieved her goal on Monday at the Champ-de-Mars Arena. Following a phenomenal run, she captured her first-ever Olympic medal—gold—thus making her mark on Canadian judo history by becoming the nation’s first Olympic judo champion.

Greeted by a noisy crowd from the moment she stepped onto the tatamis, the two-time world champion put on a brilliant show in the hotly contested final against South Korea’s Mimi Huh, who received a third shido in overtime, enabling the Canadian to secure the win.

Photo : CPJ

“I still can’t believe it. Making it all the way to Paris to compete in the Olympics has been quite an adventure for me,” admitted Deguchi.

“I knew that if I could compete at my best, I could do it, but my fights weren’t all that great today. I got lucky. I didn’t win the way I would have liked to, but I’m very proud of the fact that I never gave up until I won.”

Earlier on Monday, the Albertan experienced a similar scenario in the semi-final, where she was pitted against France’s Sarah-Léonie Cysique, the silver medallist at the Tokyo Games.

The two judokas battled it out in a physically exhausting bout that put their skills on full display. Following numerous attacks by both parties, Deguchi prevailed in overtime when the home crowd favourite received a third penalty for putting her hand up her opponent’s sleeve.

Deguchi, for whom judo is a family affair, got off to an excellent start on Monday, defeating Panama’s Kristine Jimanez by ippon in only one minute.

She then demonstrated her talent once again in the quarter-final with a quick victory by waza-ari over Serbia’s Marica Perisic.

Arthur Margelidon bows out in repechage

On the men’s side, Arthur Margelidon also gave his all in the under-73 kg weight division. The Québécois, who is ranked ninth in the world in his category, ended the tournament in seventh place after advancing to the repechage.

“It’s too bad, because I feel like it’s always within my reach, but I’m never able to grab on to it. It’s like it’s always dangling in front of me, but each time I go to grab it, someone lures it away and gives it to someone else,” said the judoka, disappointed at not having secured an Olympic medal.

In front of thousands of spectators, including members of his family, the Montrealer fought as hard as he could before being eliminated by two-time World Championships silver medallist Manuel Lombardo of Italy. Just less than a minute into the fight, Lombardo threw Margelidon onto the ground to score an ippon and clinch the victory.

“I made an error. It was a lack of attention. I wasn’t necessarily dominating the fight, but I felt like I could win it. My arm got caught, and he applied his technique at exactly the right moment, so I had no choice but to turn to that side,” Margelidon explained calmly, following the match.

Having won his first two bouts of the day, Margelidon lost the quarter-final by ippon to world champion Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan after six minutes of overtime.

“With any loss, if you don’t get back up, it can make you less of an athlete, but when you do manage to get back up again, it could mean you only have one more step to go before you reach the top,” added the judoka, who intends to regain the upper hand in the men’s team event.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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Patrick Esparbès
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