“In life, I am quite explosive, dynamic, who needs to do things, quickly, like light judo. The difference is that I have the behavior and character of a warrior who has confidence on the mat while outside, I do not always have confidence in what I do.” A beautiful self-portrait of Shirine Boukli, 25 years old, 1.56 m and 48 kilos, to which we will add a luminous face, radiating her crazy energy, whether she is focused in combat, often smiling otherwise….

“In life, I am quite explosive, dynamic, who needs to do things, quickly, like light judo. The difference is that I have the behavior and character of a warrior who has confidence on the mat while off it, I do not always have confidence in what I do.” A beautiful self-portrait of Shirine Boukli, 25 years old, 1.56 m and 48 kilos, to which we will add a luminous face, radiating her crazy energy, whether she is focused in combat, often smiling otherwise. A joyful moth. A Gardoise who came to judo at the age of four, paternal passion.

She arrives in Paris with the experience of the Tokyo Games where, very young, she was knocked out in the first round. “What has changed in me since then? I have grown up!”, she smiles. “I am more mature, I am more sure of what I do. I give off a certain serenity. I don’t know if others feel it. I think, it’s better if that’s the case, it’s scary!”

Break the distance

Surely, given the accumulation of podiums since then, and victories: European championships 2022 and 2023, Grand Slam of Paris at the beginning of 2024, her last big outing (1). She affirmed her style there “rather aggressive, opportunistic, I like to break the distance, to make judo a little sensational, without forcing. I really like the sumi-gaeshi sacrifice movements (the Russian planchette, a projection technique) with O goshi, a hip movement (on a front imbalance). The two complement each other depending on the reaction of my partner, I see what I do.”

“It doesn’t matter if you know what I’m doing, if I do it well, I’ll give it to you!”

And it doesn’t matter that The other girls study her, even spy on her. “I figure that everyone knows what I’m doing anyway. If I do things right, it doesn’t matter if you know, I’ll tell you.” A brave moan.

Un tableau infernal

On her path, there will be the Italian Scutto (3rd at the Grand Slam Paris), the Kazakh Abuzhakynova, the Ukrainian Daria Bilodid, “but my number 1 competitor is the Japanese Natsumi Tsunoda.” Reigning Olympic champion, who beat Shirinie Boukli in the final of the 2023 World Championships. “I haven’t taken her on since. I’m not sure I would have liked to take her on before. It doesn’t matter, you only have to beat her once after, anyway.” The draw was not brilliant. With Tsunoda in the quarter-finals (after two rounds for the Frenchwoman against one for the Japanese) and Scutto in the semi-finals, she is clearly in the wrong part of the draw. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

In any case, it is not a problem for her to open the ball for the Blues on Saturday. “With the lightweights, we always start, it doesn’t change anything. What changes is the outside atmosphere, the enthusiasm, the possible stress.” Mental preparation, relative isolation in the last few days will thwart the risk, she says. At Bercy, for the Grand Slam, there are twice as many spectators, just as wild, as there will be at the Champ de Mars. But “Tsunoda wasn’t there, and at the Games, there are far fewer of us. From the first round, it’s straight to war, each girl is the only one representing her country. At the Olympics, when it’s someone’s D-Day, there’s no stopping them.”

A valiant moth case. It’s here.

(1) She then came 3rd at the Kazakhstan Grand Slam.

Luka Mkheidze, a life by and for judo

Luka Mkheidze, 1.60 m, won the bronze medal for France in the -60 kg category at the Tokyo Games, at the age of 25. One of his performances that went beyond sport. Because thirteen years earlier, he was a child fleeing Georgia at war with Russia for South Ossetia, spending ten months uprooted in Poland, leaving again to settle in France in 2010. His passport to integration: being a judoka, since he was seven. “When you don’t speak French, it’s hard to make friends. Judo helped me,” he says. in the Hajime podcast.
True for his life. The political refugee becomes the 2014 French junior champion, naturalized in 2015, turns into an international judoka, and therefore a Tokyo medalist, at the end of a golden score (extra time) where his opponent is eliminated after three yellow cards. Victory resembles him: a fighting ardor as indisputable as the softness of his voice, his humility. The fighter is intractable.
His bronze was the only men’s podium apart from Teddy Riner’s bronze, and Luka Mkheidze has the same goal in Paris, and even more. The world number 3 won the Paris Grand Slam in February 2024 and was then a finalist in the Baku and Antalya Grand Slams (beaten by Yang, from Taipei, then by the Russian Abdulaev, absent in Paris).

2024-07-26 05:32:09
#Olympics #Shirine #Boukli #Luka #Mkheidze #shining #lights #French #judo #Paris

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