Judoka Natsumi Tsunoda Wins Gold at Paris Olympics; Win Marks Japan’s 1st Medal at 2024 Games, 500th Summer Olympic Medal

By Hiroki Kotaka / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:23 JST, July 28, 2024

PARIS — Judoka Natsumi Tsunoda, 31, won gold in the women’s 48-kilogram division on Saturday, earning Japan its first medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Tsunoda defeated Mongolia’s Baasankhuu Bavuudorj in the final to earn Japan its 500th Summer Olympic medal.

In the men’s 60-kilogram division, Ryuju Nagayama, 28, took bronze after beating Turkey’s Salih Yildiz.

Tsunoda, who is competing in her first Olympics and is the oldest member of Japan’s women’s judo team, was beaming after utilizing her killer techniques tomoe-nage throws and ude-hishigi-juji-gatame arm locks.

Tsunoda competed with her own style from the first match. She won her first two matches by scoring waza-ari with tomoe-nage throws before swiftly using arm locks.

The highlight was her quarterfinal match against France’s Shirine Boukli, the hometown favorite. Tsunoda skillfully outmaneuvered Boukli and threw her on her back with the tomoe-nage.

The spectators appeared stunned after Tsunoda defeated Boukli in just one minute with an ippon.

Tsunoda used tomoe-nage, which involves grabbing an opponent and sliding underneath before throwing them, against every opponent. She used kansetsu-waza submission techniques when the throw did not finish the match. The term tomoe-nage has become synonymous with Tsunoda.

She honed her signature techniques by thoroughly working on her skills to calm her anxiety.

“I’m generally a negative person and tend to feel anxious about everything,” Tsunoda said.

She said in the past, her personality made her very negative, but now she accepts that part of herself and sees it as something she has to work on.