During this Olympic cycle, and even a while before, the focus in the -81kg category has been the almighty clash between seeds #1 and #2, Matthias CASSE (BEL) and Tato GRIGALASHVILI (GEO). It has been both and exhilarating and exhausting journey to this point for both the athletes and the avid fans, the anticipation is simply too great, who will become the Olympic Champion in 2024? Of course this is not a sure thing. In Tokyo, NAGASE Takanori (JPN) disposed of his opponents, and took the -81kg title and will be the #8 seed. Saeid MOLLAEI took the silver medal for Mongolia but has fallen toward to end of this race whilst representing Azerbaijan due to injury, and instead the talent of Zelim TCKAEV will take his seeded place in the line up, another medallist from 2021, Shamil BORCHASHVILI (AUT) stepped out of the race with his brother and it will be Wachid representing the family in Paris.
Outside of the seeded positions, there are some tricky figures could easily upset the run of things for the top eight; Vedat ALBAYRAK (TUR), Antonio ESPOSITO (ITA) and Frank DE WIT (NED) who claimed a European Championship silver this year is on form and there could be some huge disappointments in the Champ de Mars Arena early doors.
Day four of the judo event will be huge in Paris, in all of France in fact, as their queen and defending Olympic Champion Clarisse AGBEGNENOU will be looking to add yet another accolade to her growing collection. Though she claimed a World title on her return following the birth of her daughter, she has made it clear that she is a different athlete now, in some respects stronger, but also a new generation are doing their best to battle through and steal the limelight.
One such is the world ranked number one and current World Champion of the -63kg category, Joanne VAN LIESHOUT (NED). The Dutch athlete’s run up to this Olympic Games could not have been better and she is propelling forward to claim some Olympic triumph, which medal it will be is yet to be seen. Catherine BEAUCHEMIN-PINARD (CAN) is a difficult player for most, her transition and ne waza skills have proven too much time and time again, and with a strong Canadian entry, the nation could be looking to clean up!
That being said, Kosovo have extreme success in the Olympic Games, three gold medals in two Olympic Games is simply tremendous, and now Laura FAZLIU is hoping to be added to this list. Angelika SZYMANSKA (POL) was forced to settle for a World silver medal in Abu Dhabi, nevertheless she is another athlete with impeccable ne waza abilities and will be putting her opponents through their paces. Andreja LESKI (SLO) is last of the seeded Europeans, but again, similarly to Kosovo, Slovenia have a special element specifically within this category and can boast two Olympic Champions; Urska ZOLNIR JUGOVAR and Tina TRSTENJAK, becoming the third point on the peaks would be historic.
The talent truly runs deep within this category; Lubjana PIOVESANA (AUT) exceeded expectation by donning a winning streak and jumping to #10 in the WRL after joining Team Austria and qualified above her team mate for Paris. Sitting at #11 is Lucy RENSHALL (GBR) who lead the weight category for some time but injury prevented her from competing and so she slipped out of seeding position. Another in a national battle was Katarina KRISTO (CRO), right until the final moment. There are World medallists OZBAS Szofi (HUN) and Barbara TIMO (POR) as well as the current European Champion, Renata ZACHOVA (CZE) all waiting in the wings.
Tuesday 30th July: -81kg/-63kg
- Preliminaries
- Start: 10:00 End: 14:00
- Final block (repechage, semi-finals, bronze medal contest and final)
- Start: 16:00 End: 19:00
Author: Thea Cowen