Steven Da Costa became the first male Olympic champion in the history of karate, which is on the Olympic program for the first time, on Thursday August 5th. The French won in the final of the – 67 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics tournament.
🇫🇷🥇 He only thought about gold, only participated for that, Steven Da Costa did it! The world number one (-67 kg), World Champion, also becomes OLYMPIC CHAMPION 🇫🇷🥇
Follow the Olympics live ➡ https://t.co/mYKmiZQKF7pic.twitter.com/QbHE8KKxet
– francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 5, 2021
Da Costa, world number one in his category and already world champion in 2018, defeated Turkish Eray Samdan 5-0 in the final. His medal is the seventh in gold for the France team and the 26e since the start of the Games.
In women, Alexandra Feracci eliminated
Before his final, Da Costa (24) defeated Kazakh Darkhan Assadilov 5-2 in the semi-final. Assadilov is world number 1 in the – 60 kg category, while Da Costa occupies the same position in – 67 kg, two categories combined at the Olympics. Samdan, the silver medalist, also usually fights in – 60 kg. Previously, the French had won three of his four fights in Pool B, where he took second place.
In women, the French Alexandra Feracci was eliminated from the group stage of the kata competition. The katas are recited and codified sequences of movements aimed at a virtual opponent. Athletes are graded on their technical performance and on the athletic aspect of their demonstration.
The competition was won by Spain’s Sandra Sanchez Jaime, who became the first Olympic champion in the history of her sport.
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