She is back. After an intense year 2023, including a bronze medal at the Worlds and then gold at the European Championships, Amandine Buchard “needed to take a break from the world of judo” to avoid “completely destroying” herself at six month of the Olympic Games, she explained to AFP after her loss at the Grand Slam in Paris.
She had chosen Tashkent to begin the final stretch towards her goal of gleaning the most beautiful metal this summer. A winning return for the Tokyo Olympic vice-champion, with five victories in as many fights, without going into overtime once.
A logical gold medal in Tashkent for the third in the world – in less than 52 kg -, notably in the absence of the reigning Kosovar Olympic champion Distria Krasniqi, victorious in the Paris tournament a month ago.
In the final, the 28-year-old Frenchwoman was first surprised by the Uzbek Gulkhayo Juraeva, 59th in the world, but fortunately she did not fall on her back and was only trailing by one point (waza- ari).
She quickly equalized before bringing down her opponent just before the end of regulation time, scoring an ippon signaling the end of the fight. In the half, Amandine Buchard eliminated the 10th in the world, the Emirati Bishreltiin Khorloodoi.
