Italy breaks its Olympic medal record

Tokyo: Italy’s Luigi Busà has won a gold medal in the men’s karate ‘kumite’ competition in the -75kg category on Friday, defeating Azerbaijan’s Rafael Aghayev in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on 6 August.

The victory of the 33-year-old Sicilian – known as the “Gorilla from Avola” – came just hours after Italy’s Antonella Palmisano won a gold medal in the Women’s 20 km Race Walk Gold event.

Italy’s total medal count in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is now 37: nine golds, 10 silvers and 18 bronzes.

This beats Italy’s top record of 36 medals, achieved at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1932 and again in Rome 1960. Italy in currently eighth place in the world on the Olympic medal table.