Majlinda Kelmendi wins Kosovo's 1st Olympic medal

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Go gold or go home. Majlinda Kelmendi won Kosovo's first Olympic medal on Sunday, taking gold in the women's 52-kilogram judo division. The top-ranked Kelmendi, the young country's best-known athlete, was the favorite heading into the competition. She scored only once against Odette Giuffrida in the final, but it was enough to beat the Italian.

After her victory was announced, Kelmendi hugged Giuffrida and then walked off the mat in tears. Wearing a blue uniform — one that matched some of the Kosovo flags being waved in the arena — a teary Kelmendi waved to the crowd and raised her arms.

Kelmendi has struggled for years to represent her country, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, in the Japanese martial art. At the 2012 London Games, she represented Albania because Kosovo was not recognized by the International Olympic Committee until 2014. Four years ago, Kelmendi lost to Christianne Legentil of Mauritius in the second round. In Rio de Janeiro, the two met again and Kelmendi advanced.

The 24-year-old Kelmendi is also a former world champion and was her country's flagbearer when the eight-member Kosovo team walked in the opening ceremony. She has Kosovo and Albanian citizenship and started judo in Sarajevo when she was 8, when her sister convinced her to give it a try.

To get to the final, Kelmendi defeated Misato Nakamura, a three-time world champion from Japan who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games and repeated the feat in Rio. The other women's bronze medal went to Natalia Kuziutina of Russia.

In the men's 66-kilogram division, Fabio Basile of Italy surprised top-ranked An Baul of South Korea by flipping him for an immediate victory less than two minutes into the fight. Baul had been dominant in his earlier matches.

The bronze medals were won by Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan and Masashi Ebinuma of Japan.