Marcus NYMAN of Sweden has today, managed to secure his place in the Paris Olympic Games 2024 by earning enough points to put him in to continental quota. It was certainly a close call for the three-time Olympian, who is marginally out of the automatic qualification zone.
For the second week running, Nyman has been competing in continental open events, taking a gold in Marrakech and today in the Abidjan African Open. The final in Abidjan was against Remi FEUILLET (MRI) who certainly didn’t give Nyman a free ticket to Paris, but after half of the contest time was gone, Nyman threw with tomoe nage, scoring waza ari. Not long after, he managed to secure osae komi for his win.
Originally inscribed in Madrid, it was a tactical move to switch events, realising that it was likely he would face current Olympic Champion, Lasha BEKAURI (GEO) and potentially miss out on the 100 points he so desperately required.
These past weeks have been giving me much stress, so today I feel a great deal of relief! Now I will relax a bit and enjoy this but am also eager to start training hard again.
Nyman is a special case in the judo world, typically taking time out after the Olympic period, away from the IJF World Tour to enjoy the Bundesliga environment instead, which has worked very well for him during the past Olympiads.
In my previous qualifications I have been top 10 and now I have struggled with a CQ. This past year has been frustrating for me with injuries but now my body is back in shape and I’m looking forward to some hard training before my last dance in Paris.
The 33 year-old came very close to the podium in Rio, taking fifth place following defeat to GWAK Donghan (KOR). He may not be in a seeding position this time around, but history goes to show that seeding doesn’t always mean a medal, and that the underdog is more than capable of finding glory on the international stage.
Though celebrations will be had for Nyman and his qualification, this also means that team mate Ida ERIKSSON has lost her place,
I feel very sorry for Ida of course, she is a great fighter and team mate. I realy hope she will go on and then I will be cheering for her in LA!
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen