Cock-a-doodle-doo! Judoka Shirine Boukli has given France its very first medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The 25-year-old from the Gard region of France triumphed over Spain's Laura Martinez Abelenda on Saturday July 27 at theArena Champ-de-Mars in an intense battle for bronze in the -48 kg category. Buoyed by an enthusiastic crowd, Shirine Boukli rallied from her quarter-final defeat to win the coveted medal in extra time.
A native ofAramon in the Gard region of France, Shirine Boukli, currently ranked fifth in the world in judo, has repeatedly distinguished herself on the international stage. A three-time European champion (2020, 2022, 2023) and runner-up in the 2023 World Championship, she has managed to turn her Olympic dream into reality despite an initial failure at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. This year, Shirine Boukli got off to a flying start, successively eliminating Turkey's Tugçe Beder and Tunisia's Oumaima Bedioui, before losing to Japan's formidable Natsumi Tsunoda.
Following her defeat in the quarter-finals of the judo events, she won her repechage match against Italy's Assunta Scutto, world number one, before preparing for the decisive clash against Laura Martinez Abelenda. It was in extra time, and thanks to a decision by the video referee, that Shirine Boukli managed to gain the decisive advantage, thus capturing the bronze medal.
This victory is all the more emblematic as it represents Team France's first medal at these Paris 2024 Games. A feat that puts Shirine Boukli in the spotlight and sets the tone for the other French athletes involved in the competition. And they are expected...
