It has not yet been a year since Tara Babulfath won bronze at the cadet worlds and only over a week ago, she claimed Olympic bronze for Sweden. Since then, numerous news outlets have dedicated coverage to judo on a daily basis. The path to this achievement was lengthy and challenging, with numerous changes along the way. Kristiina Pekkola, president of the Swedish Judo Federation and member of the Education sector of EJU, provided further insight.
In 2010, the Swedish Judo Federation was like a dysfunctional family. The year before, our General Secretary Jan Björkman had died of cancer, and we had a huge challenge to find a person to take over the position. Our organisation was very dependent on him. It took almost 2 years to find our way again and to start “brainstorming and dreaming”. In 2012, at the Annual General Meeting, the strategic plan “Vision 2020” was approved by the members. This “roadmap” gave us a clear plan of our intentions, goals and direction where Swedish Judo was going for the next 8 years.
The targets included 20,000 members, 2000 more women, 200 clubs, 20 national educational events and 2 Olympic medals.
At that time we had 14,378 members, 3990 women, 152 clubs, 4 national education events and 0 Olympic medals. By 2017, Swedish Judo had reached 20,000 members and we realised that it took 5 years for our members and clubs to find the key factors for success in attracting more members. From the federation side, we created economic reward systems for our districts and clubs.
Education is crucial to all activities and we have put a lot of resources into educating coaches, both elite and club coaches. We received a lot of support from Peter Gardiner, GB. In June 2021 one of our “dreams” came true when Tommy Macias won silver and Marcus Nyman bronze at the World Championships in Budapest. These results gave Swedish Judo more energy and proved the importance of both patience and sustainability in strategic work.
The next step for us was to create a “world class” environment for our competitors. We decided to invite world class sparring partners, judoka with higher judo merits than our athletes. Sally Conway (bronze Rio 2016) started working with us in January 2022. Every step we have taken has been to raise the minimum level of our coaches and athletes.
In August 2022, Jane Bridge started as Coach Development Supervisor. Her main role was to focus on the education of our club coaches. In April 2023 we changed her role to focus more on the cadets and Tara Babulfath.
With the Olympic bronze medal and Tara as a person, we have already won the “hearts of the Swedish people”. Judo has been on Swedish television, newspapers and social media every day since the medal. Local radio stations are looking for judo clubs from the north to the south of Sweden.
So today, in 2024, we have SUCCEEDED. The goal that so many on our journey have given us doubtful looks at times. The most amazing thing is all our volunteers who dared to come on this journey, the effort and commitment in their spare time and the hard work to success.
The lesson to learn is that “together we are stronger”. The courage to aim high should always be stronger than the fear of losing. Build a team with diversity. Change takes time, be patient. I am a very proud president of the federation.
The 18-year-old Babulfath demonstrated the potential for success when all elements of a system are aligned. There is much to anticipate from this young judoka, as well as the rest of the team. Swedish judo continues to flourish thanks to robust organisational support, dedicated athletes, and a commitment to excellence at all levels of the sport.
Images: Gabi Juan / Carlos Ferreira
Author: Szandra Szogedi