In a drawn-out bronze-medal match that necessitated nearly three minutes of overtime, Priscilla Gagné was ultimately defeated by Argentina’s Paula Karina Gomez at the Paris Paralympic Games on Thursday. The victory automatically went to the Argentinian when the 38-year-old Canadian, who was competing in the under-57 kg visually impaired category, received a third penalty.
“It was by far the most confusing match of my career. I thought I had won by waza-ari in the final 25 seconds [of regulation time]. I didn’t even know the other girl had scored because the referee didn’t announce it on the microphone. What’s more, the bleachers were full [and noisy]. All three times I threw her, I thought I had scored a waza-ari or an ippon, but that wasn’t the case, so I was very confused,” explained the Montrealer, as she stepped off the tatamis.
The Canadian took an early lead in the match when she caused Gomez to fall to the ground, scoring a waza-ari. A few moments later, the Argentinian evened the score when her waza-ari was confirmed by video replay.
On the ground, Gagné continued to attempt to immobilize her opponent, who put up a strong defense. With 25 seconds to go, Gagné believed she was on her way to winning the match, since she hadn’t heard that any points had been awarded to Gomez.
In overtime, Gagné continued to work hard on the floor, but given that her pace had slowed, the official awarded her a penalty. A second penalty followed a minute later. Gagné then attempted a manoeuvre she wasn’t able to complete, for which she received a third yellow card, thus putting an end to the match in her opponent’s favour.
“I’m not happy with the result, but I’m happy with myself, and I have no regrets. When I get back home, I won’t feel like ‘if only,’” said the only Canadian woman at the Paris Paralympic Games to have won a silver medal in Tokyo in 2021, as well as finishing fifth in Rio in 2016.
“I’m proud that I never gave up, and I could never have made it this far without my support team.”
Gagné, the 2022 runner-up world champion, was glad to see that the level of competition [in Paris] was higher than it had been at her two first Paralympic Games. She also demonstrated true sportsmanship when she warmly congratulated the winner.
“I’m happy for her. She has a big heart!”
In the quarter-final, Gagné defeated Brazil’s Larissa Oliveira da Silva by ippon. In the semi-final, she lost to internationally top-ranked Shi Yijie of China, who later edged out Liana Mutia of the USA in the big final.
Anzhela Havrysiuk of Ukraine won the other bronze medal.
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