a golden first and last for karateka Steven Da Costa

A little tour and then off to karate. Present for the first time at the Olympic Games and already withdrawn from the program in three years in Paris, this Japanese martial art knows ephemeral international recognition in Tokyo. That of Steven Da Costa will be eternal. 2018 world champion, the karateka from Mont-Saint-Martin (54) did not miss the opportunity to enter the closed circle of tricolor gold medalists.

You didn’t have to have weak nerves to play this ersatz Russian Olympic roulette. Jostled at the start of the tournament in the sacrosanct Budokan, Da Costa gained strength throughout the day. “For two years that I have been qualified [pour les Jeux], I’m under pressure. I imagined that if I did not bring anything, it was shame ”, he confided before his last two fights. Thursday evening, he lived up to expectations by mastering his semi-final against Kazakh Darkhan Assadilov and his final against Turkish Eray Samdan.

In March, in his Lorraine stronghold, Steven Da Costa started the home stretch of his Olympic preparation. Surrounded by his two brothers – Jessy and Logan, also members of the French karate team – and his father, Michel, the family trainer, he showed no stress in the face of this particular situation: “It doesn’t change anything for me, neither motivation nor pressure on top of that. I’m going to go to Tokyo to win. If I succeed, it is magnificent. If I don’t win, it’s because I shouldn’t win. Whether this is the only Olympics in the history of my sport or not. “

Leïla Heurtault is one of the only two teammates of the new Olympic champion present during these Olympics. At 26, she was entered on Friday in the – 61 kg kumite category [l’appellation du karaté de combat par opposition au kata], like Da Costa. She saw the benefits of participating in the Olympics for her sport. For example, the arrival on this occasion of additional partners for his Samourai 2000 club at Le Mans.

“We had a lot of trouble achieving. The Games were an unknown land. When we were told that it was the apotheosis of a career, it was difficult to realize it, she told the World before the Games. Just on the preparation and the publicity that it gives to our sport, it’s completely another dimension. It changes a whole career. “ Like Steven Da Costa, she was ready for this funny ” double or quits. “

In the final, Steven Da Costa beat Turkish karateka Eray Samdan.

In Japan, karate has benefited from the weight of tradition to appear among the additional sports on the Olympic program. In 1988, taekwondo took advantage of the Seoul Games to join the high mass, well helped at the time by the double hat of Dr. Un Yong Kim: ex-president of the international federation and also ex-vice-president of CIO.

To keep his place in Paris, the battle was too tough. “The president of the Japanese Karate Federation is a pretty powerful former MP. Their COJO (Olympic Games Organizing Committee) had advocated for our sport and baseball, explains Francis Didier, president of the French Karate Federation. For 2024, we did not have enough political weight. In the IOC, there is only one pope, it is Thomas Bach. He chose to take us off the list to put breakdancing instead. He was thrilled by the discipline at the Youth Olympic Games. ”

With 240,000 licensees, the French karate federation still hopes to benefit from an Olympic momentum. Steven Da Costa’s title is just right. “I hope this success will boost the number of people who will want to take up karate after watching the Games on television., said Olivier Beaudry, coach of the France team. I hope this will help us in our Olympic quest. The viewers saw a very good show. Karate has its place at the Games. “

Realistic, even if not yet fully resigned, Francis Didier wanted to turn the Olympic page for a while: “A leader must remain factual. We lived without the Games, but we have not stopped growing. If you don’t turn the page, you can’t prepare for the future. Which doesn’t mean giving up the fight for the Games, just putting it aside for a bit. ” With Steven Da Costa, the discipline has an ambassador of choice.