Steven Da Costa
French karate's little prince and first male Olympic champion
- Born
- January 23, 1997, Mont-Saint-Martin, France
- Nationality
France- Style
- Instinctive kicking technician
- Weight
- 67 kg
- Active
- 2015–2023
- Status
- Retired · age 29
The medals
Olympic gold (2020); 3 world titles
The story
teven Da Costa grew up in Lorraine in a karate family, with his father and two brothers also competing, and French karate called him its Little Prince. At 21 he won the 2018 world 67 kg title, coming back from 3-0 down against Brazil's Vinícius Figueira with sweeps and his favourite ura-mawashi kick. In Tokyo he lost a pool bout, regrouped and beat Turkey's Eray Şamdan 5-0 in the final to become the first man crowned Olympic karate champion, then carried France's flag at the closing ceremony. He kept his world title in Dubai with an 8-0 final and won a third in a row in Budapest in 2023, while campaigning for karate's return to the Games. He stepped back at 26 and made his retirement official at 29.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion, kumite −67 kg (2020)
- World champion, kumite −67 kg (2018, 2021, 2023)
- European champion, −67 kg (2016, 2019, 2023)
- World Games champion, −67 kg (2017)
- France's flag bearer at the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony
Defining matches
- 2018WINvs Vinícius Figueira (World Championships −67 kg final, Madrid, 6-5 after trailing 3-0)
- 2021WINvs Darkhan Assadilov (Tokyo Olympic −67 kg semi-final, 5-2)
- 2021WINvs Eray Şamdan (Tokyo Olympic −67 kg final, 5-0)
- 2021WINvs Emil Pavlov (World Championships −67 kg final, Dubai, 8-0)
- 2023WINvs Nenad Dulović (World Championships −67 kg final, Budapest, 5-3)
Sweep, then strike: in the 2018 world final he unbalanced Figueira with two small sweeps of the front leg and scored with a punch as the opponent stumbled. Time the sweep as your opponent steps in and loads the lead foot.
2002–2016
1966–1983
