A contingent formed of 8 Kosovar athletes participating in 5 different sports marched in the opening ceremony at Rio’s Maracana stadium on Friday. It’s the first time ever that Kosovo is featuring in the Games as a member state since gaining recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in December 2014. Two days on, they’ve clinched their maiden Olympic gold medal – 25-year-old Majlinda Kelmendi creating history by winning the final of Women’s -52kg Judo competition.
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Kelmendi,a two-time World Champion in her trade, narrowly defeated Odette Giuffrida of Italy in the summit clash after carefully seeing out the last few moments having already earned a one-point lead. As the timer signalled the end of the stipulated time, it was evident that the flag-bearer of the Kosovar delegation had done enough but the judoka chose to wait till the official confirmation is out before she started her celebrations.
As soon as the final result was announced, Kelmendi broke into tears of joy amidst loud cheers of her name ringing through the stands.
It was only in 2008 that Kosovo declared their independence from Serbia. The IOC and the United Nations’ resistance denied their participation in London 2012 due to which Majlinda had to compete under the Albanian flag – a campaign wherefrom she faced an early exit, in the very second round. She’s now bettered her 2012 performance with the highest possible result and in the process, sailed into the history books with hers, and Kosovo’s first ever Olympic gold.
