By Julian Linden, OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 30, 2026: Japan’s new super siblings Hayato and Mitsuki Kondo completed a rare family double when they both won gold medals on the same day in judo at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games on Wednesday.
Mitsuki, 21, overpowered her older and more experienced final opponent, Abiba Abuzhakynova of Kazakhstan, to win the women’s extra lightweight class (-48kg) at the Aichi International Arena.
Then Mitsuki’s older brother Hayato followed his little sister on to the tatami to complete the family's perfect day with an upset win over the reigning Olympic champion, Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan, in the men’s extra lightweight (60 kg) class.
“Mitsuki is a strong player so I expected her to win,” Hayato said.
“When I actually saw her accomplish that right in front of me, it really pressed a switch in me and got me fired-up. I was like ‘All right, let’s go.'”
Mitsuki said she had also been inspired and motivated by knowing her brother was also fighting for gold.
“It’s not so much that I look up to him but as someone who competes on the same stage he’s someone I can really relate to and who understands me very well,” she said.
“I don’t know if it’s because we have similar personalities, even among siblings, but he’s a brother who really understands me.”
While extremely rare, the Kondo sister-brother combination are not the first Japanese judokas from the same family to excel on the world stage.
Hifumi Abe and his sister Uta Abe both won gold medals together at the 2018 world championships and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Mitsuki sealed her win over Abuzhakynova when she held her down with a side control for 10 seconds to secure victory by ippon.
It was a second successive Asian Games silver medal for Abuzhakynova Ahliya while Muminova of Tajikistan and Narantsetseg Ganbaatar of Mongolia won the bronze medals.
“I really felt how big a competition the Asian Games are, and I knew that winning here would be a huge achievement in my life as well. So I went into the competition determined to win, no matter what,” Mitsuki said.
“I was looking to take the chance whenever I saw an opportunity and really go for it. At the same time, as the fight went on, I also felt that my opponent was keeping a close eye on me and being quite cautious of what I might do.”
Hayato secured his victory over Smetov with a second yuko inside the final minute after a tight bout.
“I’m not very happy with the result,” Smetov said. “But there’s been a two-year gap when I wasn’t competing, so I’m not upset with silver.”
China’s Ma Yulin and Samariddin Kuchkarov of Uzbekistan won the bronze medals.
