Photo/Illutration Hifumi Abe, right, and his sister, Uta, show off their Olympic gold medals at the Nippon Budokan stadium in Tokyo on July 25. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

When Tokyo won the bid to host the Summer Games in 2013, a young Hifumi Abe and his younger sister, Uta, were watching the news on TV along with their family. 

“It would be great if both of you could compete in the (Tokyo) Games,” their father, Koji, told the two aspiring judoka.

Uta, who was 13 at the time, was moved by her father’s words and thought that she wanted to win the gold medal.

Fast-forward almost eight years and the two made their father's dream come true, with both making the talented Japanese judo Olympic squad. 

But they exceeded expectations on July 25 with the siblings standing atop the highest spots on their respective podiums at the Nippon Budokan martial arts stadium in Tokyo. 

Hifumi, 23, and Uta, 21, won the men’s 66-kilogram and the women’s 52-kg categories, respectively.

They are the first Japanese male and female siblings to win gold medals in either the Summer or Winter Olympics. 

The brother-sister duo was the big story of the day as all eyes in their home nation were on them. 

Uta stepped on the mats for her gold medal match first, while Hifumi warmed up in the dressing room. 

In overtime, Uta pinned and immobilized her opponent until she scored an ippon victory.

Next, Hifumi began his gold medal match. In the middle of the match, he scored a waza-ari point for an osotogari throw and held onto his lead to win.

While they are waiting for their medal ceremonies, the siblings hugged and congratulated each other.

Since they were children, they have been motivating and supporting each other to qualify for the world’s biggest sports event.

Growing up, Hifumi was a crybaby. Whenever he saw bigger senior judoka, he would start to weep.

Abe family’s eldest son, Yuichiro, 25, helped Hifumi. He was not interested in judo, but he went to participate in training along with his little brother.

“My brother joined a judo club, which reassured me,” Hifumi said.

Hifumi was small. Whenever his opponent launched an attack, he was easily flipped.

But his athletic ability was outstanding. When he was a young elementary school student, he could do a handstand and walk across the training floor on his hands, which surprised his coach.

Uta started judo when she was 5.

“His sister had much more potential than her brother,” others said.

But Uta said that Hifumi was absolutely essential for her success in the martial art.

“Seventy percent of my judo style was influenced by my brother,” she said. 

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