Judoka Gabriella Willems claimed a bronze medal for Belgium at her debut Games on Wednesday, in a remarkable comeback after injury.
Willems beat the home favourite, Marie Eve Gahie, and Sanne van Dijke of the Netherlands, the bronze medallist at the 2020 Games, in the under-70kg category.
Halfway through the hotly contested bout, Willems made it 1-0 and held on to her lead to finish third. Her success is remarkable, after she missed the Tokyo Games because of injury. “It’s the best day of my life,” she said. “I had no expectations of the results at all. I beat two girls I’ve never beaten before. It’s a medal for perseverance, because I’ve had a lot of injuries and bad luck.”
This is the fourth consecutive Olympics where Belgium have won a medal in the judo competition. Charline Van Snick won bronze at London 2012, as did Dirk Van Tichelt and Matthias Casse in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Casse competed in this year’s Games but was unable to repeat his medal-winning performance.