Karate ’Golden’ anniversary: A double toast for Spain’s karate couple

TOKYO (Reuters): Veteran karate-ka Sandra Sanchez is used to defying the odds, but the thought that she would celebrate a gold medal and a wedding anniversary with her husband-coach on a historic day for the sport they love was beyond even her wildest imagination.

One month shy of her 40th birthday and 15 years older than her youngest competitor at the Tokyo Olympics, Spain's Sanchez was once written off as too old for the highest echelons of the sport – including by her coach-turned-partner Jesus del Moral.

But on a memorable day for karate – the discipline made its Olympics debut on Thursday at Nippon Budokan, the spiritual home of Japanese martial arts – Sanchez took the sport's maiden gold in a tough match against hometown favourite Kiyou Shimizu.  "It's the perfect moment," Sanchez told Reuters. 

"It's Japan, it's the Budokan, it's the (wedding) anniversary. Everything was for this moment."

Sanchez started practicing karate at the age of four alongside her older brother, and over her long career has won a record 36 medals in the sport's top-billed Karate 1 Premier League, earning her a place in the Guinness World Records.

On Thursday, Sanchez and Shimizu each scored 27.86 in their ranking rounds, underscoring just how close the final would be.

Two years ago in the same spot, the perennial rivals had faced off in a rare tie-breaker final at the Karate 1 Premier League. Shimizu took that trophy.