Fifth Italian Olympic title for Alice Bellandi

Alice Bellandi began the day as the world number one and ended it as the Olympic champion, maintaining her ranking with remarkable skill. Before today, she had two world medals but no major senior title. Bellandi’s victory marks the fifth Olympic judo gold for Italy, following in the footsteps of Ezio Gamba in 1980, Pino Maddaloni in 2000, Giulia Quintavalle in 2008, and Fabio Basile in 2016.

The final was intense, filled with action and strategy. Inbar Lanir of Israel received two penalties for passivity, while Bellandi was penalized once for a false attack. The Italian led the pace, and in the last minute, she capitalized on Lanir's focus on grip-breaking. Bellandi spun under Lanir and rolled her onto her back for a waza-ari. Despite Lanir’s aggressive attempts in the final seconds, she couldn’t score and received a third passivity penalty, securing Bellandi’s place at the top of the podium.

Reflecting on her win, Bellandi said, "This is the dream I had every single night. I have had to hold on to my faith so much and, of course, my coach, who is my partner in crime. I had many negative thoughts today; you know, whenever I’m number one, I don’t win. But I stayed focused, the plan was good, and this time I won.”

The bronze medal matches were equally gripping. In the first contest, Zhenzhao Ma of China faced Anna-Maria Wagner of Germany. Despite Wagner's strong shime-waza attempt, Ma secured the bronze with a massive ko-soto-gake in the final 30 seconds. In the second bronze medal contest, Patricia Sampaio of Portugal controlled the match against RikaTakayama of Japan, scoring a waza-ari at half-time and sealing her win with a seoi-otoshi.

Earlier in the day, Ma had advanced to the bronze medal contest by narrowly defeating Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko of Ukraine on penalties. Takayama earned her place in the bronze medal contest by throwing Guusje Steenhuis of the Netherlands with a huge tsuri-goshi for ippon.

The semi-finals were thrilling. In the first, Wagner and Lanir battled in a whirlwind of non-stop action, ending with Lanir executing a massive pick-up for ippon. In the second semi-final, Bellandi and Sampaio exchanged aggressive throws, with Bellandi eventually securing her victory and a spot in the final.

The podium saw athletes from four new countries: Italy, Israel, China, and Portugal. The joy was palpable as these athletes celebrated their medal-winning performances, with the Italian anthem ringing out in the Champs-de-Mars Arena.