Even after a long struggle, Takanori Nagase's second consecutive individual gold and third podium finish in as many Olympic judo appearances came as no surprise, the Japanese judoka's head coach Keiji Suzuki said Tuesday.Nagase, ranked eighth in the world in the men's 81-kilogram class, defied the odds at the Paris Games to become the sixth Japanese man to win back-to-back Olympic judo titles, joining 66-kg competitor Hifumi Abe in achieving the feat in Paris.Expectations had not been high for the 30-year-old as he had not won an international competition between the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 …READ FULL ARTICLE
