PARIS - The Olympic Games for Judo Belgium's judokas have come to an end. With Gabriella Willems' bronze medal and Matthias Casse's fifth place finish, the Belgian judokas in Paris posted a better result than in Tokyo, where Matthias Casse also took bronze, and Charline Van Snick finished in seventh place. Obviously our four judokas aimed high in Paris, but top sport remains top sport, where wins and losses, joys and sorrows are very close to each other. A harsh reality. Despite the tears of elimination, the Belgian judokas continue to consistently bring home Olympic medals from the Games in the last four editions and Judo Belgium remains purveyor to Team Belgium/BOIC. Charline Van Snick took bronze in London (2012), Dirk Van Tichelt and Matthias Casse secured bronze in Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2021) respectively. And now Gabriella Willems joins this select company with bronze in Paris (2024) as well.
"I am extremely proud of the performance of our delegation at the Olympic Games in Paris," responds Sebastien Bonte, president of Judo Belgium. "With a bronze medal and a fifth-place finish, our judokas showed exceptional level and remarkable determination. Congratulations to Jorre, Matthias, Gaby and Toma for their hard work and competitive spirit. Their commitment continues to make Belgian judo shine on the international scene."
"True strength at the Olympics comes not only from physical strength but strength in the belief in victory," said Peter Vermeir, president Judo Vlaanderen and vice-president Judo Belgium.
Hereafter, we review the trajectory of our four Olympic judokas.
Jorre Verstraeten (-60kg/JWB) - Elimination in preliminary round
Jorre Verstraeten kicked off for Judo Belgium on 27 July on the Olympic tatami. Verstraeten, number 19 in the world, took on number 79, the Salvadorian Jairo Moreno, who is no match Jorre. Consequently, the match is decided quickly. After a minute, Jorre throws his opponent on his shoulder and scores a first point via waza-ari. A tough ground fight follows in which the Salvadorian has to recognize Jorre’s superiority. In his second fight, however, Jorre faces an opponent of a different caliber, namely Spaniard Francisco Garrigos (#5 WRL), the 2023 world champion and reigning European champion. Our compatriot starts the match strongly which culminated in a tactical joust in which both judokas get a shido. Initially, Jorre seems to get a grip on the fight. However, the match is dragged into overtime, where the Spaniard throws our compatriot over his shoulder with just under three minutes of added time on the clock.
Parcours
Round of 32: Victory vs. Jairo Morena (ESA)
Round of 16: Defeat vs. Francisco Garrigos (ESP)
Matthias Casse (-81kg/JV) - 5th place
After a bye in the first round, Matthias started his Olympic tournament against Sibghafullah Arab (EOR) hailing from Afghanistan, a member of the Refugee Olympic Team. The tension was soon in place as the noble unknown (#109 WRL) was already creating a thriller when he surprisingly took a first point via waza-ari. The Casse fans immediately got a déjà-vu feeling, as exactly the same thing happened in Tokyo during Matthias' first camp against Adrian Gandia (PUR). However, Matthias was quickly able to turn the bout in his direction and forcefully pinned his opponent to the mat and forced his first victory with a solid armlock. Matthias' next opponent was Hungarian Attila Ungvari (#20 WRL). Matthias grabbed his opponent and eventually threw the Hungarian on his back in the Golden Score. In the quarterfinals, Matthias faces Japanese Nagase, who beat him in the semifinals at the OS in Tokyo. Once again, the match drags into the Golden Score. There, Nagase is able to score with a waza-ari. Via this defeat, Matthias unfortunately has to put away his quest for Olympic gold. He is referred to the repechage. There he meets Canadian François Gauthier Drapeau. Matthias proves to be the better judoka. To do so, he did have to dive into the Golden Score again to finally pin his opponent on the mat with a hold. His opponent in the bronze medal match is the Korean Joonhwan Lee. An exciting fight that again runs into overtime. When Matthias attacks, Lee makes a leg sweep which makes him score waza-ari. Enough for a win in the Golden Score. So, no medal for Matthias at these Paris Games. Our compatriot has to settle for fifth place, the disappointment is huge.
Parcours
Round of 32: Victory vs. Sibghatullah Arab (EOR)
Round of 16: Victory vs. Attila Ungvari (HUN)
Quarter Final: Defeat vs. Takanori Nagase (JPN)
Repechage: Victory vs. François Gauthier Drapeau (CAN)
BRONZE: Defeat vs. Joonhwan Lee (KOR)
Gabriella Willems (-70kg/JWB) – BRONZE
Despite a late and narrow qualification due to long injury, underdog Gabriella Willems surprised the judo world bout by bout during her Olympic debut. She had to pass up the Tokyo Games due to an injury. With Paris in sight, disaster struck again. Another serious injury with these Games soon hanging by a thread. With only a month before the Games to qualify, it looked like Mission Impossible, but with a fifth-place finish at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi, it worked out anyway. Nobody - including herself - expected Willems to surprise every fight on her way to the Olympic medal podium. In her preliminary round, Gabriella was too strong for Puerto Rican Maria Perez. In her second fight, she surprised Greece's Elisavet Teltsidou (#2 WRL) with an ippon. Only briefly did the engine sputter ... In the quarterfinals against Germany's Miriam Butkereit, she lost. The defeat against the German consequently sent her to repechage where she completely silenced the Champ de Mars Arena by beating Frenchwoman Marie Eve Gahie in regular time via a choke hold. She then put the icing on the cake in the match for bronze by defeating Dutchwoman Sanne Van Dijke. Willems started the fight aggressively and immediately tried to floor her Dutch opponent. This succeeds a first time, but the Dutchwoman defends very well. Van Dijke then tries to score a point with a hip throw, but Willems parries. Then it happens. Van Dijke pulls out all the stops, but Willems takes the fight to the ground and keeps the Dutchwoman in a stranglehold in ne-waza. Van Dijke initially resists. However, Willems keeps her in place, taking the bronze medal. What an achievement!
Parcours
Round of 32: Victory vs. Maria Perez (PUR)
Round of 16: Victory vs. Elisavet Teltsidou (GRE)
Quarter Final: Defeat vs. Miriam Butkereit (GER)
Repechage: Victory vs. Marie Eve Gahie (FRA)
BRONZE: Vicotry vs. Sanne Van Dijke (NED)
Toma Nikiforov (-100kg/JV) - Elimination in preliminary round
In his first fight, Toma (#22 WRL) faces Kazak Nurlykhan Sharkhan (#23 WRL). Given their place in the IJF rankings, both judokas are evenly matched, but this is the first time they have faced each other. Toma immediately attacks, but Sharkhan shakes it off. For a moment, it looks like the Kazak has scored a point via waza-ari, but that is overruled by the video judge. Sharkhan gets a first penalty point, but a shido soon follows for our compatriot as well. Toma just cannot find an opening to enforce his judo on the slippery Kazak. Then follows a second penalty point for Toma for passivity. With this heavy 'burden' he enters the Golden Score and finally the referee's verdict quickly falls with a third shido for Toma, again for passivity, which immediately signals the early end of his Olympic campaign. Toma clearly does not agree with the penalty. He steps off the mat indignantly with arms out wide asking what is going on. The disappointment for Toma is huge, emotions run high.
Parcours
Round of 32: Defeat (shidos) vs. Nurlykhan Sharkhan (KAZ)
Christian Pierre & Cyrielle Engels
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