ALL THE OLYMPIC KARATE CHAMPIONS TOKYO 2021

Karate’s first Olympic champions crowned as the sport makes its debut in Tokyo The competition for the debuting martial art is taking place for three days at the iconic Budokan which is known as the home of budo, a Japanese term describing modern Japanese martial arts. 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘇 Spain won karate’s first Olympic gold medal after world champion Sandra Sanchez Jaime recorded the highest score in the kata event. Sanchez Jaime scored a total of 28.06 for her kata with a score of 19.60 for her technical performance and 8.46 for her athletic performance. 𝗥𝘆𝗼 𝗞𝗶𝘆𝘂𝗻𝗮 Ryo Kiyuna captured Japan’s first-ever gold medal in karate at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday — and a first Olympic title for an athlete from Okinawa Prefecture — topping Spain’s Damian Quintero in the men’s kata final. 𝗜𝘃𝗲𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮 The women’s kumite -55kg event was also held on Thursday with Bulgaria’s Ivet Goranova, defeating Ukraine’s Anzhelika Terliuga in the final. Goranova won all five of her fights including a 5-1 win in the final over her 29-year-old opponent. Goranova’s win marks the first Olympic gold for Bulgaria since 2008. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮 The men’s kumite -67kg saw France’s Steven da Costa go unbeaten as he won all seven of his fights to take gold as he topped the bill on day one. Da Costa bested Turkey’s Eray Samdan by ippon (the maximum and match-ending score) 5-0 to become karate’s first male Olympic champion. Tokyo 2020 Olympic karate champions Ivet Goranova (Bulgaria), Jovana Prekovic (Serbia) and Feryal Abdelaziz (Egypt) are launching a campaign aimed to bring karate back to the Olympic programme of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.