28 July 2024 was Diyora Keldiyorova’s day.

She made that statement very clear, starting in the Paris 2024 preliminaries when she took out Tokyo 2020 -52kg Olympic champion and four-time world champion Abe Uta, which may very well be remembered as one of the biggest upsets of these Olympic Games.

Her 52kg gold medal is historic, as she became the first Olympic champion for Uzbekistan in judo and the first female medallist in judo.

Tokyo 2020 -48kg Olympic champion Distria Krasniqi (Kosovo) clinched her second Olympic medal, silver, having moved up to the -52kg weight category after Tokyo.

Brazil’s Larissa Pimenta took a tactical victory over reining world champion Odette Giuffrida for bronze, with whom she shared a lovely moment of friendship after the bronze medal match.

Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Amandine Buchard brought the crowd to its feet in the Champ du Mars Arena as she brought more glory to the host nation, this time in the form of Olympic bronze.