Shirine Boukli did it again: The bubbly Frenchwoman extended her golden streak in Tbilisi to take home her fifth title in her fifth appearance at the European Senior Championships. She has never lost a match at the European Championships so far.
“I am very proud of this fifth title, in my fifth participation,” the 27-year-old said. “So it is a little personal record that I wanted to keep.”
It was not the easiest final, probably one of the longest that we are going to see at these championships as the contest against Sabina Giliazova went into the golden score and ended only after eight minutes with a shido for false attack for the Russian. “It was my longest final I believe,” Boukli commented, laughing.
“All medals are different and have a different meaning and all the competitions are different as well,” the French judoka shared. “They are more or less difficult. I would say that judo is never easy, but today, yes, it was especially difficult.
“I won’t hide that I was not happy with how it ended,” the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist explained. “I would have liked to win in a different way, but at the end of the day it still is a medal and a victory, so I am very pleased.”
Overall, Boukli is very happy about her whole performance on the opening day of the championships, setting the pace for France with the first gold medal of the day.
“I think I was pretty thorough and meticulous about the details I needed to take care of,” the Frenchwoman pointed out. “I think I sometimes overdid it a bit, and as a result I ended up getting tired a bit, but that’s just my judo is. I’m very dynamic and I just love getting things done. But I didn’t make too many mistakes, so that’s a positive.”
Author: Tatjana Flade
Author: EJU Media