In a thrilling display of skill and determination, Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik secured a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, overcoming a series of intense matches and a last-second challenge to claim his second career Olympic medal.
Paltchik stepped onto the mat for his first match in the repechage bracket. After a crushing defeat to the top-seeded Azerbaijani in the quarterfinals, the Israeli judoka faced Dutch competitor Michael Korrel, knowing he was just two victories away from his second Olympic medal. The match against Korrel went into golden score, with Paltchik carrying one penalty and the Dutchman two. Paltchik executed a superb technique, securing an impressive ippon. He rushed to embrace his coach, Oren Smadja.
In the decisive bronze medal match against Swiss Daniel Eich, Paltchik dominated and led with a wazari. With just five seconds remaining, he could almost feel the medal in his grasp. However, he received a third penalty, which should have resulted in his disqualification. Paltchik quickly appealed, arguing that one penalty had been counted twice unnecessarily. The appeal was successful, the final seconds ticked away, and the bronze medal was secured in Paltchik's hands.
Earlier in the tournament, Paltchik defeated Gonchingosor Batkhuyga of Mongolia (world No. 11) in the first round with an ippon, and Aurélien Diesse of France (world No. 50) in the round of 16, after the latter received three penalties. In the subsequent match, he lost to Zelim Kotsoev by wazari, after video judges overturned a wazari in favor of the Israeli at the last moment.
