“Bronze that tastes like gold”. Catarina Costa wins medal after overcoming two injuries in 5 months

“Ambitious”, as she insists on defining herself, Catarina Costa (CC Atomic, for her friends) won a bronze medal at the European Judo Championships in Zagreb. It was the third podium in a row for the judoka from Académica de Coimbra, which thus increased the national medalist, now with 42 metals in 30 years.

Yesterday, in the fight for third place, the Académica judoka beat Croatian Milica Nikolic, sixth in the world and first seed in the lightest category at the European Championships. In the -48 kg category, the Portuguese judoka only needed three opponents, with two wins and one defeat, to guarantee her third consecutive medal at Europeans, after two silvers in Sofia2022 and Montpellier2023.

The 27-year-old judoka returned from a long layoff due to elbow surgery and a sprain. Therefore, according to her, “this bronze tastes like gold”. Without the pressure of qualifying for the Olympics, since she is in the direct qualification zone (fifth straight position out of 17), Catarina Costa still needed the golden score to continue in the competition. Eighth in the world rankings and third seed in Zagreb, she first beat Serbian Andrea Stojadinov (24th) and Belgian Ellen Salens (48th) in the repechage, after losing in the quarter-finals to Israeli Tamar Malca (30th). .ª). In the fight for third place, she beat Croatian Milica Nikolic, sixth in the world.

He has practiced judo since he was 10 or 11 years old, after a teacher diverted him from football. She didn’t know the sport, but she knew who Telma Monteiro and Nuno Delgado were and accepted the challenge. After two months of judo, Catarina was launched into the competition. She says she wasn’t very good, but she liked the feeling and continued to train. At the age of 13, she became national champion and began to be trained by former European champion João Neto, who still guides the woman who increasingly sees herself as Telma Monteiro’s heir.

A very technical, persevering and resilient judoka, he prefers technique to brute force. He studies Medicine at the University of Coimbra, which makes the medals more valuable, considering that he is on one of the most demanding university courses and trains 16 to 20 hours a week. The future may lead her to practice medicine, but the present is in judo and representing her favorite club, Académica.

Yesterday secured Portugal’s 42nd medal at the European Championships, the first of which was won in 1994 by Justina Pinheiro, in Gdansk, Poland, also in the -48 kg category. More than a third of the achievements belong to Telma Monteiro (-57 kg), who also returned after a five-month break and finished 7th.