President Shavkat Mirziyoyev spoke over the telephone with the female judoka Diyora Keldiyorova, who won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris in the 52 kg weight category, the presidential press service said in a statement.
Reportedly, Shavkat Mirziyoyev warmly congratulated her, who won the first medal for Uzbekistan at the Paris Olympics, on this historic victory and expressed gratitude to her parents and coaches,”.
Diyora Keldiyorova said at a press conference that she had been preparing for this tournament for a long time. “I knew that each of my opponents would be the strongest. I was well aware that I could not become strong until I won against the strong. I think that this [understanding] helped me. I felt that the entire people of Uzbekistan, all the judokas of Uzbekistan were behind me. I want to express gratitude to our esteemed president for his attention to women's sports in the country. The conditions are at a world level,” she said.
On her way to gold, Diyora Keldiyorova defeated the current Olympic champion, Japanese Uta Abe, who had been on a win streak for five years, German judoka Masha Ballhaus, 2020 Olympic silver medalist Amandine Buchard from France and 2020 Olympic champion in the 48 kg weight category Distrija Krasniqi from Kosovo.
Diyora Keldiyorova is the first athlete in the history of Uzbekistan to win gold in judo. Before this, judokas won two silver medals (Armen Bagdasarov in 1996 and Abdulla Tangriev in 2008), as well as 5 bronze medals (Rishod Sobirov in 2008, 2012 and 2016, Diyorbek Urozboev in 2016 and Davlat Bobonov in 2020). She is also the first female athlete to win a women's gold medal for Uzbekistan at Summer Olympics.
