It has been 14 years since Swedish judoka, Marcus NYMAN landed on the Judo Tour, opening his high level career in Vienna in 2010. It was in the same year, at the age of 20 years that he defeated Varlam LIPARTELIANI (GEO) in the European Championship final, also in Vienna, cementing his legacy as one of Sweden’s top athletes.
There is a family legacy that he has also continued, as in 2021 he took a World medal, the first since his 1986, when his mother Elizabeth KARLSSON, won silver. Nyman repeated this success once again in 2023, achieving World bronze medal status in Doha.
Nyman has always been a player of interest, taking breaks from the IJF World Judo Tour and live a life outside of being a professional athlete. Due to his approach, he can brag of a long and successful career, and in spite of those absences, has numerous accolades including five Grand Slam gold medals and a Masters bronze in 2016.
I have been fortunate to have had a long career with some stops between Olympics to gather motivation and focus on other things than judo. My highlight is to have won the Europeans and be a champion, and of course be a World medallist.
My advice for future judoka is to take time and also enjoy. I have always liked to fight with the teams and I’m happy I did spend the extra weekends going to Bundesliga and have this experience!
The past qualification for the Paris Olympic Games was a hard slog but Nyman battled through in to the last Continental Open events to secure his place in an impressive fourth Olympic Games, with his best result a fifth place in Rio de Janeiro, 2016. With his incredible achievements, Nyman has become a national hero and icon on the IJF World Judo Tour, a huge thank you and good luck for the future from all in the European Judo Union!
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen