The day after the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, the first medals were awarded on Saturday, July 24. Achievements marked this day, in particular the first medal for the French contingent.
A first medal for France
This Saturday, we had to turn to tatami mats and judo not to miss the first French medal of the fortnight. The bronze came to reward the feat of Luka Mkheidze, the Frenchman of Georgian origin, who managed to climb to the semi-finals before giving up South Korean Kim Won-jin in the fight for third place. .
The first Olympic title is Chinese
The first gold medal of the Tokyo Games is to be credited to the Chinese Qian Yang. The latter won, in rifle shooting at 10 meters, the first of 339 Olympic titles to be awarded over two weeks. Yang edged Russia’s Anastasiia Galashina (2nd) and Switzerland’s Nina Christen (3rd) to win her very first Olympic charm, at just 21 years old.
Gold medalist at the Asian Archery Championships in Doha in 2019, Yang offered her country her first coronation, he who finished in 3rd place in the medal standings in Rio in 2016 with 70 podiums, including 26 titles. China is already in the lead with 4 medals, including three gold at the end of this day.
Japan is already losing two of its idols
Japan, for its part, had a mixed first day. The host country won its first Olympic title with the coronation of Naohisa Takato in judo (-60kg). But he also had two huge disappointments, with the elimination of two superstars in the country. The first disappointment came from Daiya Seto (27 years old), triple world champion in the 400m medley and bronze winner in this discipline in Rio in 2016. The Japanese was grilled politeness from the heats by the young Frenchman Léon Marchand (19 years old) and will not play in the final. The Japanese star will however have the opportunity to make up for it on Monday and Wednesday, with the 200m butterfly and the 200m medley.
The story is even more heartbreaking for Kohei Uchimura (32), two-time all-around gymnastics winner in 2012 and 2016 and team gold medalist in Rio. He left the mats with his head down, after falling during qualifying on the high bar, the only apparatus he had chosen to present. For Uchimura, six-time individual world champion, this failure certainly marks the end of his Olympic career.
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A historic treble in fencing
What would the Olympics be without some resounding feats? For the first day, you had to look at the fencing side to witness a historic performance. Hungarian Aron Szilagyi, 31, won his third Olympic title in a row. Never had a man achieved this, whereas a woman, the Italian Valentina Vezzali, had achieved it at the turn of the century (in 2000, 2004 and 2008). The Hungarian swordsman beat Luigi Samele in the final and thus enters the fencing legend. Nine years after his first Olympic title acquired in London and five years after that won in Rio, Szilagyi continues to build on an already long track record.
Djokovic assures for his debut
Five years after Rio, Novak Djokovic is already sure to do better than at the 2016 Games. In Brazil, the Serbian was eliminated in the first round by Juan Martin del Potro. This time, the world number 1 had no mercy for the Bolivian Hugo Dellien, 139th in the ATP ranking, which he crushed in 1:03 of play and two sets (6-2, 6-2).
4th in 2012, bronze medalist in 2008, Djokovic is the huge favorite of the Tokyo Games tennis tournament, in the absence of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer or Dominic Thiem. Winner since the start of the year of the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, the Serbian, who will face Jan-Lennard Struff in the next round, is hungry for titles and in particular for the “Golden Slam”, that is to say win the four Grand Slams in a calendar year with the addition of Olympic gold. This does not prevent him from relaxing when he visits the Belgian gymnasts.
Working on my splits with @teambelgium gymnastics 😉 @ninaderwael @mae_gym #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/xOOIBYldph
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) July 24, 2021
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