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Azerbaijani judoka Hidayat Heydarov has become the winner of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games securing the first gold medal for Azerbaijan, Azernews reports, citing Idman.biz.

In the final, he emerged victorious over French judoka Joan-Benjamin Gaba, cementing his legacy as the greatest judo fighter after his title win in the men’s 73 kg division.

Hidayat Heydarov went down in the history of Azerbaijani sports as a judoka, who won the title of European, World, and Olympic champion this year.

The World Judo Champion (-73 kg) stood out on the third day of the Olympics. He exploded Paris after 174 years since Mirza Fatali Akhundov's Mastali Shah in 1850.

Hidayat also repeated the joint record of Elnur Mammadli and Rustam Orujov, who won the earliest Olympic medals from Azerbaijan. All three judokas reached the finals in the 73 kg category. Mammadli became the champion in Beijing 2008, Heydarov in Paris 2024, while Orujov settled for silver in Rio 2016.

Hidayat started fighting from the round of 16 and scooped up the gold medal. Joan-Benjamin Gaba of France took the silver, while Adil Osmanov of Moldova and Soichi Hashimoto of Japan earlier won bronze medals.

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