Chelsie Giles wins Team GB’s first medal of Tokyo 2020 with judo bronze

Coventry judoka Chelsie Giles claimed Great Britain’s first medal of the Tokyo Olympics, winning bronze after defeating Switzerland’s Fabienne Kocher in the women’s -52kg repechage.

The 24-year-old, who bagged her first Grand Slam gold medal in Israel earlier this year, overcame Macedonia’s Arbresha Rexhepi and Morocco’s Soumiya Iraoui to reach the quarter-final, where she was beaten by Japan’s Uta Abe.

However, she was presented with another route to a podium place and duly took it, downing Belgium’s Charline van Snick and then Kocher in their bronze medal match, both with Ippon finishes.

It has not been the most auspicious start to a Games for Team GB, with Yorkshire swimmer Max Litchfield going close as he agonisingly finished fourth in the men’s 400 metres individual medley final.

Jade Jones was widely expected to get Britain up and running but the Welsh taekwondo star, the two-time defending champion in her -57kg category, fell to a shock loss in her opening bout with Refugee Team athlete Kimia Alizadeh.

While Giles may not have been tipped by many to get her nation’s first gong, that was not through a lack of skill on her part. Ranked 10th in the world, she showed remarkable composure on her Olympic bow.

“I felt really good in the warm-up and I was taking each fight as it came. It went really well, I believed that I could do it and my coach has always believed I can do it and it showed in today’s performance.

“I never underestimate any of my fights, I think that’s when mistakes are made, so I go into the fight knowing what they do and knowing what I’m capable of doing.

“With my best performance I know I can beat some of the top players and today’s performance showed that.”