WATCH: Openly gay Judoka Alice Bellandi celebrates with her girlfriend Jasmine Martin after winning gold medal at Paris Olympics 2024

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Aug 02, 2024 10:39 GMT

Alice Bellandi has done wonders at the 2024 Paris Olympics, as she won the gold medal in the women's 78kg judo event on August 1. The Italian judoka defeated Inbar Lanir of Israel in the finals.

This is the first gold medal for Italy at any female judo event in the Summer Olympics in the last 16 years. Giulia Quintavalle had done it last in the lightweight category [57kg] at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Bellandi's historic victory was not the only highlight of the event. A video of her hugging her partner Jasmine Martin and openly kissing her went viral on social media platforms.

Watch the video below:

Alice Bellandi went to celebrate the occasion with her family members in the spectators' stand and hugged her girlfriend Jasmine Martin before kissing her openly.

For the unversed, Jasmine Martin is a 23-year-old judoka, who was born in Brazil, but currently resides in Italy, and represents the nation in the women's 57kg category. She had met Bellandi in Italy, and the two have been partners ever since.

Martin didn’t qualify for the Paris Olympics but chose to support his girlfriend as she won gold for her country.

---

A look into Alice Bellandi's performances leading up to Paris Olympics 2024

Alice Bellandi [L] in action at the Paris Olympics [Image Source: Getty]

Alice Bellandi has won several gold medals at the IJF Judo Grand Slam and the IJF World Masters. She has a gold medal from the 2022 edition of the Judo World Masters, and four gold medals from the 2022 and the 2023 editions of the IJF Judo Grand Slam, held at Budapest, Baku, Tel Aviv, and Abu Dhabi, respectively.

Bellandi's journey to the Paris Olympics was nothing less than a roller coaster. This year, she barely managed a bronze medal at the IJF Grand Slam held at Tashkent. However, she bounced back with a silver medal from the 2024 Judo World Championships, held in Abu Dhabi in May 2024.

Bellandi subsequently qualified for the Paris Olympics by virtue of being the table topper in the 17 quotas allotted as per the IJF World Ranking List for the Paris Olympics 2024.

She had once been the junior world champion in the 70kg category when she won the gold medal at the 2018 Junior World Championships. The 25-year-old later switched to the light heavyweight [78kg] category, where she is now the reigning Olympic champion.