Canada continues to make Olympic history as Christa Deguchi has captured the country’s first-ever gold medal in judo.
This comes after a very tense gold medal bout against South Korea’s Mimi Huh that had to go into sudden-death golden score. Huh was eventually disqualified after a false attack, handing Canada its first gold medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the country’s first-ever judo gold medal finish.
Canada wins gold… by default 🇨🇦🥇😄 pic.twitter.com/VAueeqKtrP
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) July 29, 2024
It’s an accomplishment that has been a long time coming for the Japanese-born Canadian judoka. The 28-year-old Deguchi has climbed the international ranks of the women’s 57kg category, as she came into the Olympic tournament as the world number one, according to the International Judo Federation.
Her gold medal bout opponent, Huh, was ranked third in the world.
Deguchi’s journey to the gold medal was anything but easy. She faced a hostile crowd in the semi-finals as she took on France’s Sarah Leonie Cysique. That bout went the distance, with Deguchi pulling out the win in a marathon golden score on penalties.
The Olympic gold medal is one of the last international Judo championships for Deguchi to collect. She is a two-time judo world champion after capturing gold at that event in 2019 and 2023. She placed silver in the 2024 championships, losing to Huh in that gold medal bout.
It seems like that loss was exactly what Deguchi needed to finally find her way to the top of the Olympic podium this time around.