Patricia Sampaio is already on the limited list of medalists in national judo.

Patricia Sampaio became the fourth Portuguese judoka to win an Olympic medal on Thursday, winning bronze in the 78kg category in Paris 2024, joining Nuno Delgado, Thelma Monteiro and Jorge Fonseca.

In the fight for bronze, the Portuguese judoka defeated Japan’s Rika Takayama with a double waza-ari, winning the 29th Olympic medal in the Portuguese sport, the first at the current Games.

At the age of 25, Sampaio joined the limited elite of national judo after an impeccable run in which she won her first three bouts by ippon, but was sent to the repechage after a waza-ari loss to super-favorite and world judo ranking leader, Italian Alice Bellandi, whom she had never defeated in eight bouts.

Earlier, the Portuguese judoka began her journey with a victory over Kenyan Zeddy Cherotich, the 22nd entrant, followed by Frenchwoman and favourite Madeleine Malonga, who took second place at the Olympics, and then China’s Zhenzhao Ma, all by ippon.

Ninth at Tokyo 2020 – the same place she occupied at the last World Championships – Sampaio was the big surprise for Portuguese judo at Paris 2024 and not without surprise equalled the achievements of her predecessors, as she was not the most obvious name in the group of Portuguese to compete for a medal.

Olympic judo pioneer Nuno Delgado was the first to stand on the Olympic podium, finishing third in the 81kg weight class in Sydney in 2000 after beating Uruguayan Alvaro Paseiro by ippon.

This unprecedented medal, won on September 19, 2000, made other judokas believe that it was possible, as the sport became one of the most important in the Portuguese missions at the Games.

While expectations grew exponentially with the bronze of Delgado, now 47, it took Portuguese judo 16 years to celebrate a medal again, until August 8, 2016 to be exact.

That day, Thelma Monteiro won bronze in the 57kg category at the 2016 Rio Olympics, defeating Romanian Corina Caprioriu with a yuko.

After five medals at the World Championships and 11 at the European Championships, Monteiro, who was present in Paris 2024 at the invitation of the Portuguese Olympic Committee, finally achieved Olympic “metal”, the only one in this edition in national colours.

Portuguese judo, however, did not have to wait another 16 years to win another medal, as at the next Games, held in Tokyo in 2021 – postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic – Jorge Fonseca was third.

Today, eliminated in his debut match in Paris 2024, the Sporting judoka won bronze in the 100 kg category, defeating Canadian Shady Elnahas by waza-ari, winning the first of four medals for the Portuguese Mission in the Japanese capital, the best success of the Olympic Games.

Three years later, Patricia Sampaio also had the honour of ‘offering’ Portugal its first medal at Paris 2024 and making judo forget its disappointing performance at those Games.