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The Yomiuri Shimbun Hifumi Abe, left, defeats Willian Lima in the men’s 66-kilogram division judo final to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
By Hiroki Kotaka / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter
19:08 JST, July 29, 2024
PARIS — Hifumi Abe, who won gold in the men’s judo 66-kilogram division at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, demonstrated overwhelming strength after witnessing his younger sister’s defeat in women’s judo earlier in the day.
Surrounded by cheers and applause from the crowd that filled the venue, Abe raised both arms high. “This is how the Olympics should be,” he said.
The scene was different from the Tokyo Olympics, in which he also won gold but in a venue without spectators. The Paris Games “showed me something I had never seen before,” Abe said. It was his best moment after all the hard work he had put in.
His dream was to win gold medals in consecutive Olympic Games with his sister Uta Abe, who had also won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and competed in the women’s 52-kilogram division in Paris.
Uta, however, lost by ippon in the second round. When Abe saw his sister’s defeat while warming up, he said he decided to “do my very best for my sister, too. I made up my mind that I had to do all I could.”
His opponent in the final was Willian Lima, who is skilled at consecutive attacks. Faced with the repeated quick attacks, Abe thought, “This will get harder the longer the match goes on.” He won the match by moving to make throws immediately after Lima attacked and by utilizing his footwork, which he said he had practiced intensively after the Tokyo Olympics.
“This time, since Uta lost, I have a new goal. There are more reasons than before for me to try harder,” he said.
Heartbroken, Uta seemed unable to think about the Los Angeles Olympics in four years.
“Honestly speaking, as an older brother, I want to continue judo together [with Uta] for years to come,” Abe said.
It seems that he wants his sister to experience the same joy and cheers he received from the crowd, and he aims to encourage her, dreaming of the day in four years when they will both be wearing medals on the tatami in Los Angeles.
