Canadian Jessica Klimkait is the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in judo, taking bronze in the women's under-57 kilogram category after defeating Kaja Kajzer of Slovenia.
This is Canada's first medal in judo since the 2012 Olympics when Antoine Valois-Fortier won bronze. Doug Rogers captured Canada's first medal in judo, winning silver at Tokyo in 1964 when the sport made its Olympic debut.
Klimkait missed a chance to add a gold medal to her world championship title when she lost to Sarah Leonie Cysique of France in the semifinals.
Klimkait was defeated by ippon when she was assessed a shido in the golden score period for a false attack. It was Klimkait's third penalty of the bout, giving Cysique a berth in the gold-medal match.
Klimkait was in fine form before her semifinal loss. She defeated Poland's Julia Kowalczyk in their quarterfinal bout at the Nippon Budokan.
#TeamCanada history is made at #Tokyo2020
Jessica Klimkait becomes the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in judo, taking in the 57kg event
Details https://t.co/kjNL3d5cqB pic.twitter.com/W03D5k1eYw— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) July 26, 2021
The victory, her second straight via ippon, came after she beat Bulgaria's Ivelina Ilieva in the round of 16 earlier in the day.
Canadian Arthur Margelidon lost the bronze medal match in the men's under-73 kilogram category at the Nippon Budokan.
