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Japanese siblings each win gold judo medal less than an hour apart in historic fashion

A pair of Japanese siblings each took home a gold medal in the judo competition on Sunday.

Uta Abe won the gold medal in the women’s 52-kg on Sunday after she beat France’s Amandine Buchard in the final match. Less than an hour later, her older brother followed suit in winning judo gold.

Hifumi Abe beat Georgia’s Vazha Margvelashvili to win the men’s 66-kg gold medal, officially making them the first brother and sister pair to win gold on the same day in the same Olympic competition.

Hifumi, 23, got Margvelashvili to the mat after four minutes with an outer leg sweep to seal his victory. The two-time world champion had to win a wild 24-minute fight to even qualify for the Olympics last year, and then won four straight fights on Sunday to claim his gold medal.

After her match made it through regulation deadlocked, Uta pinned Buchard more than four minutes into extra time to win her first gold medal.

"In the past four years, I was really working hard for these games, so I am very glad that my efforts paid off," Uta said, via Japan Today.

"Buchard is a rival and someone I really respect...I am very happy I beat her at the end."

Great Britain's Chelsie Giles and Italy’s Odette Giuffrida won the bronze medal in the women’s competition, and Brazil’s Daniel Cargnin and South Korea’s An Baul took bronze in the men’s.

Hifumi and Uta Abe are the first Japanese brother-sister pair to win gold on the same day in the same Olympic competition. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP)
Hifumi and Uta Abe are the first Japanese brother-sister pair to win gold on the same day in the same Olympic competition. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP)

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