A judo star has made history by becoming the first athlete from the Kosovo to ever win an Olympic medal.

Two-times world champion Majlinda Kelmendi, who was Kosovo's flagbearer at Friday's opening ceremony, took home gold in the women's judo.

Rio marks the first Olympics at which athletes are competing under the flag of Kosovo, which proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008.

The country was accepted as a member of the International Olympic Committee in 2014.