France claims the first two medals of its home Olympics with silver and bronze in judo
PARIS (AP) — Luka Mkheidze and Shirine Boukli won France’s first two medals of the Paris Olympics in judo on Saturday night, with Mkheidze claiming silver and Boukli winning bronze.
Mkheidze lost 1-0 to Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan in the final of the men’s 60-kilogram division, disappointing a raucous crowd at Champ-de-Mars Arena. The No. 3-seeded Mkheidze made an impressive rally through the bracket in the lightest men’s weight class, but he couldn’t score against Smetov, who became the first Kazakh gold medal-winning judoka after taking home silver and bronze from the two previous Olympics.
About 30 minutes before Mkheidze’s loss, Boukli claimed France’s first medal of its home Olympics with a victory over Spain’s Laura Martinez in a bronze-medal match.
The powerful French judo team — which includes Olympic cauldron-lighting heavyweight Teddy Riner — is off to a strong start.
“It was magical, it was incredible,” Boukli said. “It is a great crowd that spreads positive vibes. It makes me want to roll over anything. I feel like this is historic.”
The 28-year-old Mkheidze was born in Georgia, and he came to France as a teenager in 2010. He quickly rose to prominence in judo, winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and he won a gold medal at last year’s European Judo Championships.
The Paris crowd was vocal in support of its two judokas, who provided one of the early signature moments of these Games even before their medal triumphs.
During the morning session, both competitors ended up on the mats simultaneously in separate matches. The fans reacted with double delight, chanting “Allez Les Blues!” and even breaking into an impromptu rendition of “La Marseillaise.”
Mkheidze and Boukli then dramatically finished their opponents with ippons that occurred mere seconds apart, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Paris will have plenty of chances to cheer on its vaunted judo team, which has a competitor in all 14 weight classes in these Olympics. Riner, the two-time individual Olympic gold medalist going for a record-tying third gold next week, joined Marie-José Pérec in lighting the Olympic cauldron on Friday night.
“I am the first medal of France for judo, but also the first one for France’s delegation, and it is motivating,” Boukli said. “We are talking about a team with Antoine Dupont, Clarisse Agbegnenou, Teddy Riner, and I just made history. We are talking about war machines. I just made history. It is Paris 2024, it is the Games, and Shirine, you did something amazing.”
France is one of the world’s top judo nations, and its rivalry with fellow power Japan is likely to culminate next week in the mixed team competition. France stunned Japan to win the first Olympic mixed team tournament in Tokyo three years ago.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
