Patrícia Sampaio has scored the first medal for Portugal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Last Thursday, 25-year-old Patrícia Sampaio from Tomar, a Portuguese judoka, or judo practitioner, took home the bronze medal in the -78 kg category. She won her match against Japanese athlete Rika Takayama, who is ranked 9th in the world and had been the 7th favorite to win at the Paris Olympics.
Despite Patrícia not making the top of the list after the qualifiers, an objective she had in order to avoid some stronger and well-ranked athletes, she ultimately only lost to the number 1 ranked judoka in the world, and now Olympic champion, Alice Bellandi from Italy.
Patrícia competed in five different matches during the Paris Olympics, beating high-ranked athletes such as the former Olympic vice-champion, Madeleine Malonga. She ultimately took home the 29th medal in Portugal’s Olympic history, and the 4th in the history of Portuguese judo.
Both the Portuguese President of the Republic and the Portuguese Prime Minister made public statements congratulating Patrícia, marking her win as an important achievement for the entire country as well as judo on a national level.
