Japan’s Takanori Nagase has become the first judoka in history to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the under-81kg category. On Tuesday at the Arena Champ-de-Mars in Paris, the world’s eighth-ranked athlete won his second consecutive Olympic final, three years after his victory at home in Tokyo.
Winner in the quarter-finals over Matthias Casse, the world number 1, Nagase inflicted an ippon (Tani-otoshi) after 2 minutes 48 of combat, in the final, on Georgian Tato Grigalashvili (IJF 2), 24 years old, triple reigning world champion (2022, 2023, 2024) and triple European champion (2020, 2022 and 2024).
Matthias Casse finished 5th in the tournament after losing the bronze medal match to South Korean Joonhwan Lee, ranked 3rd in the world. The Antwerp native conceded a waza-ari (Ko-uchi-gari) after 2 minutes and 48 seconds in added time.
The other bronze medal went to Tajikistan’s Somon Makhmadbekov (IJF 7), who won his medal fight against Italy’s Antonio Esposito (IJF 13).
Nagase, 30, is the only Tokyo Olympic medallist in the under 81kg category still on the podium at Paris 2024.
