Italy garnered more Olympic medals yesterday. Gold in judo and kayak was joined by silver in fencing.
Alice Bellandi of Italy secured the gold medal in the women’s judo -78kg category at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by defeating Inbar Lanir of Israel, who claimed the silver, with a final score of 11-0.
Bellandi was leading 1-0 when Lanir received her third minor penalty, which ended the match. The Italian judoka is experienced, having recently won silver in the -78kg category at the 2024 World Championships. She also competed in the -70kg weight class at Tokyo 2020. Lanir previously won bronze in the judo mixed team event at Tokyo 2020, as well as gold in the -78kg category at both the 2023 World Championships and the 2023 World Masters.
Bellandi finished the fight with a bloody mouth but still shared a hug with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was in the stands wearing a blue “Italia” t-shirt.
“I’m still a little bit speechless. I don’t know. I don’t really understand if this is real or I’m still dreaming because I dreamt about this every single night. And how can I say? Today was just a perfect day”, said the world number one.
Gold in the men’s kayak
Giovanni De Gennaro delivered an outstanding performance to claim gold in the men’s Olympic single kayak slalom event on Thursday, finishing with a time of 88.22 seconds. De Gennaro, ranked world No. 2, took the course fifth and immediately went on the attack, drawing cheers from the crowd as he smoothly navigated the upstream gate at the halfway mark and cleanly completed the rest of the course to secure the top spot.
Jiri Prskavec’s reign as Olympic champion came to an end when he incurred the second of two 2-second penalties by clipping gate 16, resulting in a disappointing eighth-place finish for the Czech paddler.
Women’s foil team take fencing silver
The Italian foil team, ranked number one in the world, had to settle for silver as the USA team took the gold in the women’s foil team event.
First-time Olympian Lauren Scruggs, who previously secured silver in the individual event, solidified her breakthrough status. She quickly scored five points against Italy’s Martina Favaretto, giving her team a solid advantage. In the final round, Scruggs remained composed against a determined Arriana Errigo, who was seeking revenge from their earlier encounter, and landed the last five crucial touches.
“She’s a legend,” Scruggs said of Errigo. “I’m sure the Italians wanted to come out on top. She was fighting, but I stayed focused and finished strong. Winning that last touch was just surreal. I’m still in shock; it’s unbelievable to make history.”
Errigo expressed her disappointment at not winning the final, but described it as “a beautiful silver medal.” Italy’s coach, Stefano Cerioni, acknowledged that while gold would have been preferable, he was pleased with the silver. “My team did great, the Americans just did better,” he remarked.
On Tuesday, the Italian women’s epee team took a fencing gold.
Tennis semi-finals today
Today, Lorenzo Mussetti is the man with the chance to end Novak Djokivic’s run, in the second of the men’s semi-finals at Roland Garros.
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini are in the women’s doubles semi-finals, on court at midday today. They face the Czech pairing of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova.
