COVENTRY’S Judoka Chelsie Giles won Team GB’s first medal at Tokyo 2020.
The 24-year-old twice threw Swiss Fabienne Kocher for waza’ari to take the bronze in the -52kg categoty.
It was a dream come true for Giles who only made her senior international debut in 2017.
She said: “I believed I could do it, my coach has always believed I could and it showed in today’s performance,
“It feels very special to do it in Japan.
“It’s an amazing arena and the atmosphere was amazing.
“To do it where Japan started the sport, it makes it extra special.
“I never underestimate any of my opponents, that’s where mistakes are made.
“I go into the fight knowing what they do, and knowing what I’m capable of doing.
“With my best performance, I know I can beat some of the top players and today showed that.”
Chelsie first started the martial art at Coventry Judo Club at the age of eight where her brother had practised from the age of five.
She has said previously: “My home club, Coventry, is the biggest support and I get messages all the time.
“They lend me so much spirit and I want to make them proud.”
Giles’s searing strength on the floor shone through on the biggest stage at the brutal expense of early opponents.
She took care of Macedonia’s Arbresha Rexhepi inside a minute with a sankaku-jime chokehold and then Morocco’s Soumiya Iraoui with a kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame hold for ippon.
Then came Uta Abe, one of the Brit’s idols in the sport, who she took all the way to golden score. The Japanese, who went on to take the gold medal, produced a waza’ari to take victory after four minutes of grappling.
