Paris, France, July 30, 2024: Tajikistan earned their first medal of Paris 2024 – and their first in the Olympics since 2016.
Pride of place went to Somon Makhmadbekov, who won bronze in the men’s judo -81kg at the Champs-de-Mars Arena on Tuesday afternoon.
Makhmadbekov beat Italy’s Antonio Esposito by ippon after 1 minute, 24 seconds to claim one of the two bronze medals on offer in judo.
The Tajik judoka had lost to Georgia’s Tato Grigalashvili in the quarter-finals but showed his mental toughness to come back and win two matches to clinch bronze. He was ranked ninth at Tokyo 2020 at men’s 73kg and is coached by Fotekh Makhmadbekov - his uncle.
Makhmadbekov, 25, claimed Tajikistan's first Olympic medal in any sport since 2016, the first Olympic judo medal since 2008 and the fifth Olympic medal ever for the nation.
“It’s a great honour for me,” he said.
“I have the experience of competing at the Tokyo Olympics but I could not win a medal there, so this time I got the bronze. I hope that in the next Olympic Games I can win a gold medal for my country.”
*Korea’s Lee Joon-hwan won the other bronze medal by defeating Matthias Casse of Belgium.