Ten years since Majlinda Kelmendi's Olympic gold

Ten years ago, on August 7, 2016, Majlinda Kelmendi won the Olympic gold medal.

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Majlinda won the most valuable medal in sports, in the up to 52 kilogram category in judo. Thus, Kosovo, in its first participation in the Olympic Games, won a gold medal, which a significant part of the world's countries have not yet won.

Kosovo's judo coach, Driton Kuka, recalled the special moment through a post.

"Four-time European Champions. Twice-time World Champions. However, there was always a 'but' from people everywhere we met. The Olympics was always the comment and they were right. The Olympics, however, are special. Ten years ago, Olympic gold came - what we were missing. We already had all the gold medals that can be won in sports," wrote master Kuka, the creator of all the successes of Kosovar judo.

Thanks to the work of Kukës and his students, Kosovo has won medals in the three editions of the Olympic Games in which it participated. At “Tokyo 2020”, the Games were held in 2021 due to the COVID19 pandemic, Distria Krasniqi and Nora Gjakova won gold. At “Paris 2024”, Distria won silver and Laura Fazliu bronze.

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But Kosovo rose to prominence with Majlinda's gold a decade ago. Olympic gold, especially the first for a country, comes with tremendous publicity for the athlete and her country.

"That day in Rio de Janeiro remains great for Kosovo and Albanians around the world. It started in Rio, continued in Tokyo. May God continue, with more Olympic medals," wrote master craftsman Kuka.

The Olympic medal is different from medals at other major events, including the World Cup. Kuka says that Olympic medals in sports cannot be compared to anything else.

Kosovo has won medals only in judo at the Olympic Games. Thanks to the work done in Peja by Kuka and his judokas, Kosovo is now considered a European judo superpower, albeit with few competitors. 

In Rio, Majlinda started with an "Ippon" victory over Swiss Evelyne Tschopp in the second round. She then defeated Christianne Legentil of Mauritius, who had previously inflicted the heaviest defeat of her career. The big victory came in the semifinals against Japanese Misato Nakamura. Meanwhile, in the final, Majlinda defeated Italy's Odette Giuffrida.

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Majlinda competed for another five years after "Rio 2016", until after the Tokyo Games. But she faced numerous injuries, which turned out to be her main "adversary".

Even after ending her career as a judoka, Majlinda did not leave judo. She is now a coach in the team of master Kuka. The experience gained in her amazing career, she is successfully passing on to young judokas.