Fran Garrigós went down in historical past judo Spanish breaking the lengthy Olympic drought with a bronze medal in -60 kg on the Paris 2024 Olympic Video gamesThe judoka from Madrid defeated the present world champion within the repechage, Giorgi Sardalashviliwith a waza-ari within the gold approach.
It’s the first Olympic medal for Spanish judo for the reason that gold in Isabel Fernandez in Sydney 2000. Since then, an extended drought of 24 years has handed, although throughout this time Spanish judo continued to realize success in World Championships, European Championships and Grand Slams.
And an much more persistent streak within the males’s class, the place to search out the final (and solely to this point) medal you had to return to the silver of Ernesto Perez in Atlanta 1996. A stress that, nevertheless, he didn’t really feel this time.
“We felt the stress particularly in Tokyo 2020, as a result of within the earlier World Championships we had gained medals for Spain 4 years in the past,” she confessed in a press convention. “However in these Video games I got here out with out stress, considering solely about what trusted me and having fun with the tatami.”
What higher technique to eliminate the thorn of getting misplaced within the first struggle in his two earlier Olympic Video games. The primary, in Rio 2016, he was in a position to digest as a result of he was nonetheless too younger. However the second, in Rio 2016, he was unable to digest. Tokio 2020the place he hoped to get into the struggle for medals, did a lot injury that he even thought-about quitting the game.
Garrigós revived within the palms of Quino Ruizthe guru of Spanish judo (5 of the 9 Spanish Olympians practice with him). He understood that psychological energy was as vital as bodily energy or approach, and he signed a dream Olympic cycle that he now crowns with this historic bronze medal.
The Madrid native was proclaimed world champion in 2023 (a event the place he additionally crossed paths with Sardalashvili), including his title to an unique listing the place solely Olympic champions have been included. Miriam Blasco (1991) e Isabel Fernandez (1997), and his accomplice and nice pal Niko Shera (2018, 2021).
Final Might he misplaced that crown, once more shedding unexpectedly within the first struggle in what was his final match earlier than the Olympic Video games. A title that ended up within the palms of Sardalashvili. A setback that didn’t get him off the trail.
