Shady ElNahas captures Pan American title U100kg

Shady ElNahas found himself in front of a raucous, hostile crowd as he competed in the U100 kg final at the Pan-American Games in Santiago. The enthusiastic fans were cheering for Chile’s Thomas Briceno, the nation’s first judoka to reach a final since the judo tournaments began.

Nevertheless, ElNahas drew strength from the crowd to defeat Briceno by ippon after just a few minutes, securing Canada’s first gold medal on the tatamis in Santiago.

“Canada hadn’t yet won a gold medal since the weekend began. I wanted [the team] to bring at least one gold medal home, and I’m proud to be the one who won it,” said ElNahas.

Following his final victory, ElNahas quickly pulled his opponent to his feet and raised his arms into the air, as a sign of respect. The crowd appeared to appreciate the gesture, sending a final wave of support to their local hero.

“I love it when the crowd is against me. It motivates me even more! But at the end of the day, I’m in Thomas Briceno’s home, and it was important to show him some respect. I wanted the crowd to know that he’s a really good athlete, and that they should be proud of him.”

On his way to the top of the podium, the 25-year-old Ontarian won his first two bouts of the day, defeating both Nathaniel Keeve of the USA and Leonardo Goncalves of Brazil by ippon—the latter in the semi-final.

ElNahas’s victory is all the more impressive considering that only four days ago, he was competing in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates, where he won a bronze medal. However, it was important to ElNahas to participate in the Pan-American Games, despite the many long hours of flying to get there.

“It was very tiring for me to have to make weight twice in such a short time. I travelled for more than 30 hours to get here. I’m going to sleep very well tonight! It’s a big tournament, and lots of athletes dream of participating in it. My team took really good care of me so that I wouldn’t feel too tired,” he concluded.