Extremely tough fight to get a bronze (7)

I believe the answer is:

spartan

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'extremely tough' is the definition.
'Spartan' can be an answer for 'tough' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'extremely' bit.

'fight to get a bronze' is the wordplay.
'fight' becomes 'spar' (sparring is a kind of fighting).
'to get' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a bronze' becomes 'tan' (I've seen this before).
'spar'+'tan'='SPARTAN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spartan that I've seen before include "Of conditions, harsh and lacking comforts" , "Of conditions, simple and harsh as for ancient Greeks" , "Disciplined person" , "Simple and harsh, without luxuries" , "Not comfortable" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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