The Champ de Mars Arena has been transformed from celebrating the world’s finest judoka to welcoming the world’s best wrestlers. Despite the change of costume at the venue, the memories will last forever and with the Olympic Games still ongoing, this week, we keep the spirit alive by reliving some of the best moments of judo at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Europe had an incredible week at the Olympics, winning 31 medals, including 7 golds. Some were expected, but others were a delightful surprise. It was a historic week for so many reasons, including the return of Cyprus to the Olympic judo scene, following a 20-year gap in attendance. Now that the dust has settled, we caught up with the first ever Cypriot female judoka to qualify for the Games, Sofia Asvesta to relive her history-making moment with us.
Uh, where to start… It has been an amazing experience for me because my dream has now become my reality. I was able to do what I had only dreamed of, compete in the Olympics and become an Olympian. After this experience, it’s a new chapter for my future, because now I want to have good results soon!
When I saw the draw I knew it was going to be hard because if I was going to defeat the Moroccan girl I would have to face Buchard who is not only a top class judoka but she is fighting in her country and everyone will be supporting her. I had a lot of thoughts at the time and I tried not to think too much about the competition or stress about things. I just wanted to enjoy the day like I enjoy training and give it my all.
That day I was just trying to concentrate on the first fight against Morocco. She is also a very strong athlete. I made a mistake in the ne-waza, she caught me in a good shime-waza and in that moment I said to myself ‘you can’t lose like that’, so I just tried to escape and luckily I did. Then I told myself to wake up and fight like I know I can fight and from there I managed to bring out the best in me and win the contest.
There I was, facing Buchard, and before the contest, when we were waiting to go out, I heard everyone cheering for her… at that moment I just closed my ears and made a plan in my head. I thought about what my coach told me, I remembered all the hard work and my journey to get here and that just helped me stay focused. When I fight with her I feel really comfortable. I was fighting really well and then I made a mistake with my left hand and that was the moment she caught me and threw me with her technique.
To be honest, if I could have made it at least to the golden score I think it would have been much better for me because I fight really well in the golden score because I have good condition and I don’t get tired easily. Unfortunately it did not go that far, she is an experienced athlete, she has big results and for me, facing calibres like Buchard is just a big help to believe in myself and train harder and become like them! I train really hard, I give all my soul for this difficult road and I know that one day I will have a chance to show all my power that I have.
I am proud to be the first female Cypriot judoka to represent Cyprus at the Olympic Games. It would not be possible without my team behind me who support me. I want to motivate the new generation to keep going and try all the best for judo. I have really strong support from my family that was always with me even when I had bad results, they still believe in me, so without them I would not be here right now. The last judoka to represent my country at the Games was my coach Christos Christodoulides, so this time he was ready to come back to the Olympics but in a different role, to coach me.
The experience in Paris made me realise that in the next 4 years I have to give everything once again, and this time for not only to take part in the next Olympic Games in 2028 but also to achieve a good result. Our country is small, but our soul is really big! So we will do our best and I am sure we will have good results.
Indeed, Cyprus has made rapid progress with the development of judo in the country and will host the Small States European Championships 2024 later this year. The return of Cypriot judo to the Olympic stage in Paris was only the beginning of a wonderful journey for the team.
Author: Szandra Szogedi