Charline van Snick has said that she has been "fighting so hard" in order to compete at the European Games after having a doping ban overturned.
The Belgian judoka had a two-year suspension after testing positive for cocaine lifted, proving her innocence less than a year before winning gold in the women's -48kg event in Baku.
The 24-year-old told reporters: "I am so happy, I was clearly the best today. I'm happy to win in the first European Games, and to win my first European championship. I've been through too many bad things and problems, so I am happy with this. I deserve it, I've been fighting so hard for this.
"I just focus on my fight and I want to win it step by step. When I won the final I didn't even realise it, because for me it was just a match like any other. Afterwards, on the podium, I realised that 'now I am a European champion', and that was really nice.
"Last year I had trouble with the doping controls and with proving my innocence, so I didn't think about judo at all. But I knew that of course one day I would be a European champion and I did it."
Van Snick was a bronze medallist in the same event at the London Olympics in 2012.
Sian Cowper
