Fifth Place at the Olympics for Akil Gjakova

Fifth place instead of a fifth Olympic medal. On Monday, Akil Gjakova came very, very close to the Olympic podium. But in the end, he finished fifth in the under-73-kilogram category at the judo tournament at the Paris Games. Fifth place at the Olympics is the greatest success of Akil’s career, and also Kosovo’s greatest achievement in terms of its athletes.

Kosovo’s judokas have already won four Olympic medals, the most valuable prizes in sport. Majlinda Kelmendi, Nora Gjakova and Distria Krasniqi have Olympic gold medals. On Sunday, Distria added an Olympic silver medal to her extraordinary collection.

Twenty-eight-year-old Akil Gjakova had two matches to win a medal. In the semifinal, he lost to Azerbaijan’s Hidayat Heydarov. Then, in the match for third place, and the bronze medal, he lost to Japan’s Soichi Hashimoto. Hashimoto is a multiple world champion and was the second seed in Paris. Akil was seeded 13th. 

The match for the bronze medal started very badly for Akil. Hashimoto scored a waza-ari after just a few seconds. Akil then kept looking for a throw until the end. But the Japanese judoka defended successfully. Hashimoto had received two penalties and risked receiving a third. However, he avoided it to secure Japan’s next victory at “Paris 2024”.

Akil had a very difficult path. He began his day at the “Champ de Mars Arena” with a win over Brazil’s Daniel Cargnin, an Olympic medalist and the fifth seed. He scored two waza-ari against him with beautiful throws.

In his second match, he scored a spectacular throw to win by ippon against Austria’s Samuel Gassner.
In his third match, Gjakova faced the tricky Italian Manuel Lombardo. Lombardo was the fourth seed. The match went into overtime, where Lombardo received his third penalty. This gave Akil the win by ippon. The Kosovan judoka now has three wins and one loss against Lombardo, one of the best in the category.

In the semifinal, Akil faced the top seed and reigning world champion, Heydarov. He fought a very strong match against him. He kept looking for a throw and came close to winning on at least two occasions. But in the sixth minute, in overtime, Heydarov scored a waza-ari to secure a place in the final. 

Kosovo will now seek its fifth Olympic medal, and its second in Paris, on Tuesday. Laura Fazliu will take to the tatami in the arena, which is continually filling with more than eight thousand spectators. She is the third seed in the under-63-kilogram category and therefore a strong medal contender.