Judoka Butkereit wins the Olympic silver medal
Judo athlete Miriam Butkereit wins silver medal at the Olympic Games and celebrates the biggest success of her career. The 30-year-old loses in the final of the up to 70kg weight class only to the two-time world champion Barbara Matic from Croatia and celebrates the biggest success of her career. For Team Germany, it is the first silver medal at the Summer Games in France.
Butkereit, who had not won a medal at the World or European Championships before, advanced to the medal fights by defeating the Australian Aoife Coughlan and Belgian Gabriella Willems with an Ippon each. In the semi-final, she had the greater strength reserves in the Golden Score duel against the Austrian flag bearer Michaela Polleres.
The middleweight class has once again proven to be a medal bank for the DJB, which has now celebrated the fourth medal in the up to 70kg weight class since the 2004 Olympics: Annett Böhm won bronze in Athens 20 years ago, Kerstin Thiele won silver in London 2012, Laura Vargas-Koch won bronze in Rio 2016, and now Butkereit has won silver again.
Wagner aims to follow suit
"Anything is possible at the Olympics," Butkereit had said beforehand: "I don't want to put too much pressure on myself and still win my fights. We'll see how it ends up. I want to approach the Olympic competition like any other competition."
On the other hand, Eduard Trippel (Rüsselsheim) narrowly lost in the opening round of the up to 90kg class against the Swedish Marcus Nyman. "I felt good today, everything was working," said Trippel: "I made good weight. The warm-up was good. It's a shame it didn't go further."
Another German hope in Paris is the German flag bearer Anna-Maria Wagner. The world champion in the up to 78kg class is up next on Thursday. Wagner is already seeded for the round of 16.
Butkereit's silver medal at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris would potentially make her the fifth German judoka to win a medal in the up to 70kg weight class since the 2004 Olympics. Anna-Maria Wagner, the German flag bearer and world champion in the up to 78kg class, is aiming to add to Germany's medal tally at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris.
