Honestly, the result could have gone either way and in either case we would have witnessed the crowning of an extraordinary champion. What made the difference in the end? Experience, perhaps, the last burst of energy that made Hidayat Heydarov send Gaba to the mat with a monstrous move, for sure.
We can only congratulate the two judoka and take a big hat off to Gaba who was not among the favourites this morning, and especially to Heydarov who achieved the feat of having won all the competitions he participated in, in 2024. It began in February with the Baku Grand Slam. Then there were the European Championships in April, the World Championships in May and finally the Olympic Games here in Paris. What an incredible year for Hidayat Heydarov!
Hidayat Heydarov declared, "I added Olympic gold to my collection. I felt the support of the whole country but especially my family. I know that they were watching and that means a lot to me. This is a victory for Azerbaijan. I will do my best to repeat the success in Los Angeles in 2028. We are sons of a victorious nation."
Bronze medal contests
Manuel Lombardo (ITA) and Adil Osmanov (MDA) faced each other in the first bronze medal contest. On one side, Lombardo was hoping to open the count for Italy and to obtain a better place than the 5th place of the Tokyo Olympic Games three years ago. On the other side, Osmanov wanted to replicated Vieru’s feat of yesterday, with the first ever Olympic medal for Moldova. With a massive o-uchi-gari, Osmanov sent Lombardo to the ground. Initially awarded a waza-ari, after video review the score was switched to ippon. The bronze medal was for Osmanov, the second for Moldova in two days. These Games are incredible.
Soichi Hashimoto was the favourite for the second bronze medal contest but after what Akil Gjakova (KOS) had shown during the day, everything was possible. The Kosovar judoka tried, he really tried his best but the waza-ari that Hashimoto scored early during the contest was a mountain too high to climb. The bronze medal was for Japan.
Semi-finals
The first semi-final opposed Joan-Benjamin Gaba (FRA) and Adil Osmanov (MDA) and the least we can say is that the noise level inside the Arena Champ-de-Mars was at its highest when the Frenchman entered the field of play. On fire since the morning, Gaba started the contest with a short observation before he pinned his opponent almost for ippon. The video refereeing was clear though: 19 seconds. Only waza-ari was inscribed on the scoreboard.
This can always be a problem, because Gaba had already celebrated but he went back immediately to his initial concentration and a few seconds later concluded with a superb sode-tsuri-komi-goshi. This time, it was for real, this time he could fully celebrate his qualification for the final. Monumental Gaba!
After Heydarov was penalised a first time for a kumi-kata infringement, Gjakova was very close to scoring, counterattacking Heydarov's trademark kata-guruma. The Azerbaijani judoka has been studied carefully. Before the end of normal time, Gjakova was also penalised twice and it was with 1 shido on one side (Heydarov) and two on the other side (Gjakova) that the two men entered the golden score period. With one more shido given to Heydarov, there were two penalties apiece. Throughout the contest, Heydarov didn't seem at his best, a little slow, lacking power, but the seoi-otoshi came at the right time, after 1:35 in golden score, to give him his ticket to the final. It may not be the most resplendent Heydarov but definitely an effective one. This is also the mark of the great champions.
Repechage
It didn't take long for Manuel Lombardo (ITA) to catapult Arthur Margelidon with a superb kata-guruma on the edge of the tatami for a flawless ippon to qualify for the bronze medal match. In the second repechage contest, Soichi Hashimoto (JPN) was challenged by Erdenebayar Batzaya (MGL), who was not scared by the impressive career of the former world champion. However, during one of his attacks, the Mongolian judoka landed on his head first and was logically disqualified.
