Tokyo Olympics: sister and brother Abe win gold in judo a few minutes apart

"In 2021, we will win two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics as a brother and sister."

Here is what Hifumi Abe launched on social networks during the New Year. Promise kept.

In the legendary Nippon Budokan, he became Olympic champion a few minutes after his sister Uta.

Double world champion, she was the first in the under 52 kg category, dominating the French Amandine Buchard at the end of the Golden Score.

Barely enough time to celebrate her own success at the exit of the tatami mat when she hugged her brother before entering the running.

We then saw her stamping her feet in the waiting area, waiting for her medal and seeing her big brother, 3 years her senior, affording himself the same metal as her.

To our knowledge, this is the first time that two siblings have won Olympic gold on the same day, in the same discipline and in two different draws.

A performance they had already achieved during the 2018 Worlds.

🥋🥇 The Japanese Hifumi Abe touches on the Olympic dream.

The 23-year-old judoka wins gold for the first time in his career by defeating Georgian Vazha Margvelashvili # Tokyo2020

Follow the Olympics live ▶ https://t.co/wRM6q9VOGt pic.twitter.com/GlpgggJce3

- France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 25, 2021

Judo was not obvious to them.

Their father Koji, a firefighter by trade, instead seeing them playing the piano.

But little Uta was determined, especially as she quickly showed a few predispositions.

Some even predicted him more future than his brother with the kimono, even if the two regularly dominated their opponents in the youth categories.

If Uta was completely favorite this year, it owes its Olympic qualification to an incredible 24-minute play-off against world champion Joshiro Maruyama in front of cameras across the country last December. “We encourage each other all the time. And even if we don't talk about it directly, we can feel it without using words, ”the younger girl had recently said.