She became Olympic finallist in 2004 in Athens and fifth at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Claudia Heill retires from judo. In her career she won five European Championships medals (2 silver, 3 bronze). Now her career is over.
The 27-year old judoka from Vienna will promote the 2010 European Championships in her hometown from now on and remain as coach for Austrian talents.
Heill: After my Olympic final I took a break to see if I could motivate myself for this level of top judo. But I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have the ultimate motivation anymore for another one or two years. After her coach Hubert Rohrauer changed to the Israelian Judo Federation after the 2008 Olympic Games, Heill didn’t have a coach who coached her since her youth.
Heill: “Hupo has influenced my life tremendously. Nearly everything I have achieved is thanks to him. Him or someone else like him, has failed so far after the Olympics, that’s the reason of my retirement.”
After several (knee) injuries she won a bronze medal at the 2007 European Championships. Heill: “Perhaps that was my most important medal, otherwise I would have retired even before the Olympics.”
“I’m quite happy that I can do other things now, perhaps work in the sports-marketing someday. But for sure I will stay in judo, that’s my sport.”