Judo: Kazakhstan's Yeldos Smetov wins men's -60kg Olympic gold as France's Luka Mkheidze takes silver

Kazakhstan's Yeldos Smetov dominated the first men's judo competition of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to take the gold medal over France's Luka Mkheidze, who took the silver on 27 July at the Champ de Mars Arena.

Smetov completed his Olympic collection with the gold, after being denied the top spot on the podium at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, where he took silver and bronze respectively.

He has been a dominant force in the sport for nearly a decade, having won the 2015 World Championships one year before making his Olympic debut.

Smetov and Mkheidze faced off in the final after sharing the podium in Tokyo to both take the bronze medals, and it was a nail-biter as the home crowd was hoping to see Mkheidze take the first gold medal of the Games for France.

The silver meant Mkheidze won the second medal of the day in the sport for the host nation, after Shirine Boukli took bronze in the women’s -48kg.

To make the medal moment all the more special, French President Emmanuel Macron was in attendance to congratulate both athletes.

Japan's Ryuju Nagayama and Spain's Francisco Garrigos took the bronze medals.

Garrigos, who took the world title in 2023, defeated Georgia’s reigning world champion Giorgi Sardalashvili in his bronze-medal match, while Ryuji beat Türkiye’s Salih Yildiz.

"I was nervous, it's the Olympic Games and everyone is watching you, including my family, and expecting you to do well. But I have dedicated myself to enjoying it, forgetting about the result and the medal possibility, but also knowing that my performance depends entirely on me," Garrigos said after his performance.

Judo: men's -60kg podium

Gold: Yeldos Smetov, Kazakhstan

Silver: Luka Mkheidze, France

Bronze: Ryuju Nagayama, Japan

Bronze: Francisco Garrigos, Spain